Rebirth of Souls - Fullbring
by Masshiro-Ni
Summary: Seventeen months. Seventeen months since Ichigo lost his powers. Seventeen months since he fell out of step with the world. Karin hates watching what her brother has become, and she'll do anything to bring him back. She'll help him regain his power even if it means doing the one thing he would never want her to.
1. Death to the Strawberry

_Given the overall terrible ending that Bleach has been subjected to, I thought it would be a good idea to cut back to where all the really big problems with the series started cropping up and retool it from there. The third arc of the series gets a bit of flack for how same-y it is to the second, but I think the final product is still satisfying as a whole._

 _The same can't be said for the Fullbringer arc. While it's my favorite in the series, it's where a huge detraction started. Nobody liked Ichigo working his way back up from nothing with a new cast of characters, and the twist at the end was only appreciated because we saw Ichigo back in black robes. I want to change this._

 _Here's the start of my rewrite for the Fullbringer arc. With some gumption, I hope to finish out the rest of the series. I want to give fans the ending we deserved, and I also want to play around with the world a bit. I think this is the best place to start, really._

 **Updated: 3/19/17**

* * *

 **Rebirth of Souls - Fullbring**

 **Chapter One**

My name is Kurosaki Karin. I'm a thirteen year old soon-to-be middle school student, and for as long as I can remember I've been able to see ghosts. I didn't want to believe that was true when I was younger. At the very least, I thought that everyone else had just decided to ignore what they were seeing. Following along with that and pretending not to see them either was easy. It made me feel like I was more normal – like I could fit in.

My brother couldn't have been any more different.

Ichigo started sticking his nose into this whole ghost thing right after Mom died. Dad had never really acknowledged it; it was like he was trying to ignore Ichigo's abilities. Looking back, I can't blame him. He probably knew nothing good would come out of it.

While I pulled away from that world, Ichigo ran into it head first. He was infamous around the neighborhood for his antics before long. Hanging out in graveyards, beating down the guys that knocked over roadside memorials, and he spending a disturbing amount of time standing on bridges right after people had killed themselves were all things that Yuzu and I just got used to him doing.

People thought he was weird, of course. But they were right in a funny kind of way.

When I started being able to see the ghosts that Ichigo could, I was too young to try to hide it. I was scared, and the first thing kids do when they're scared is tell their families, right? Well, the first person I told was Ichigo. He was only about ten at the time, and I was just old enough to start keeping secrets from Dad. The fact that I was afraid he'd start ignoring me like he had Ichigo probably spurred that. Of course, the first thing my brother did was drag me with him to talk to all the spirits in town.

Dad and Yuzu figured it out quickly. Almost too quickly, given that I hadn't told them. I was so sure that Ichigo had been the one to let the cat out of the back before I figured out about Dad, and I probably stopped talking to him for the better part of two weeks. I don't think our relationship ever really recovered.

It wasn't like I grew to resent Ichigo over it, but I learned to sort of keep to myself. It makes sense; I'm a little older than Yuzu, if you take two hours into account, and they say the middle child is supposed to be more independent.

So Ichigo ran off into town playing around with ghosts and sort of doing his own thing, and I took up soccer to get out of the house. Yuzu stayed at home, happy to start picking up skills like how to cook and sew up torn clothes. She really took after Mom in that way, but she also lacked a certain amount of bite that Mom had passed down to me. Dad never stopped talking about how much we reminded him of her back when the ache of losing her was still fresh.

But those feelings aren't what I want to talk about right now.

Even after he'd become a high school student, Ichigo couldn't give up on trying to do right by the souls around town. He'd practically immersed himself in this world separate to reality but still inside of it, and that had kept his power growing at a steady rate. Eventually his soul grew strong enough to begin attracting Hollows, and from there it wasn't long before he became a Shinigami.

Whether it was to protect Yuzu and me, to get revenge for Mom, or for something else entirely, Ichigo kept jumping headlong into trouble at every turn. He was practically going out of his way to get involved in things that he shouldn't be. There always had to be something to prove, someone to save, or a debt to be repaid. Ichigo was honorable, and that mixed with his stubborn-as-a-mule disposition eventually wound up getting him hurt just like it always had.

When everything had been said and done, my older brother returned home in a coma. He was out for a month, and lucky that we'd been on break from school for a good chunk of it. Even then, Urahara had needed to jerry-rig him a…what do they call it? A kikai? Whatever. Urahara had needed to get Kon a fake body so that "Ichigo" could attend classes while staying in his real body to recover. Missing the start of school was never a good thing.

The coma hadn't even been the worst part of it. Sometimes my memories of the way he used to scream as the power was ripped out of his soul during that month invade my dreams. I start to think it still isn't over, and that shakes me awake. When the house winds up being dead quiet despite my pounding chest and Ichigo's cries still echoing in my mind, I don't know what to do with myself. I'm just so out of the loop with all this.

I can't even say how Ichigo lost his power for sure. I learned a lot that day: that Dad used to be a Shinigami, that Ichigo was going to be in a lot of pain during his 'regression,' that Ichigo's friends all had powers of their own, and so much more. But I still never got the answer to the one question I wanted to ask.

Why did it have to be Ichigo that lost his power? Why did he have to be the one to suffer when he was supposed to just be a regular person? Why did the Shinigami have to give my brother something that made him happy just so they could ask him to give it all up later on?

It's been seventeen months since Ichigo apparently saved us all, and we haven't seen hide or hair of anyone from the Soul Society. I guess it was a shock to hear at first – the fact that there was a place your soul went when you died instead of just skulking around as a ghost was something I hadn't considered. Still, it was hard not to believe with that genuinely sad expression on Ichigo's face when he told me about it after he finally woke up.

I'm starting to get a little fed up with him, honestly. Even though he says he's happy to be living a normal life, he hasn't smiled so much as once since that day. Summer break is over tomorrow, and not having to look at Ichigo moping around all the time is going to be a welcome refresher. Seriously, all he does is stay locked up in his room with those darn headphones putting a wall between him and the rest of the world. In the rare moments he isn't doing that, he's off working his part-time job at that…eel store? Odd job shop? Whatever.

Either way, he's become a major drag to live with. You'd think that he would have learned to at least fake being happy in the time since he'd lost his power, but it's more like he hasn't even bothered to try. Part of me wants to grab him by the collar and plant my fist in his face, but I know I can't. He's my brother, and he's hurting so much that he can't even do anything about it. I'm mad because I don't understand. I want to help, but how can I if I don't know what's wrong?

Those are the thoughts that have been circling in my head for the past month now. Eventually, just thinking – just waiting – gets to be too much for any person to handle. I didn't care if it was stupid, I needed to do something. So even if it was a long shot, I had something planned.

Urahara had been hanging around Yuzu and me ever since Ichigo first awakened his Shinigami power. He knew about Hollows and Shinigami. While I didn't think he'd be of much help, my only other option was Dad. There was no way in hell that I could ever get that geezer to take this seriously. No, Urahara was my best shot at finding some way to help Ichigo out of this slump.

Getting to Urahara's place was easy enough. I just had to tell Yuzu and Dad that I was going out to play soccer with a few friends after lunch. That was all it took for them to leave me alone these days, and I was happy for it. The hard part was going to be getting any real information out of the old shop owner. He loved to play this game of tit for tat, giving you just enough clues to figure it out for yourself while also roping you into something you might regret later. It was annoying.

"Oh, what do you want?" a snarled voice growled as I opened the front door and entered the old, wooden shop.

But not nearly as annoying as Jinta when he scrunched his face up in that annoyed sneer. I don't know if they were Urahara's children or his niece and nephew, but Ururu and Jinta were almost always hanging around the candy shop. Sometimes I wonder if Urahara even pays them for the work they do. If he does, I'd honestly be surprised.

"I'm here to see the shopkeeper. Go get him for me," I leveled. Jinta was the kind of kid that you had to be blunt with if you wanted results. He was stubborn, arrogant, lazy, and just generally not a good person. He'd gotten better as he aged, but it's like they say; once a punk, always a punk.

"Not so fast, missy," Jinta sneered. "What makes you think he's got time for you? I can answer any question you have just fine by myself."

If this were a few months ago, I probably would have been at this asshole's throat by now. Thankfully, I liked to think I was a little more mature and in control of my temper these days. If Jinta was going to get in my way, I'd have to deal with it like an adult.

"I doubt that, kid," I scoffed while shooing him away. "Just go get Urahara before I have to find him myself. Tell him it's important."

"What!? You think you can just come in here and – "

"Jinta!"

The redhead snapped around at the booming voice, his eyes falling on Tessai and immediately shooting open in fear.

"What do you think you're doing treating one of our valued customers like that? And Lady Karin no less! Grab a broom and sweep out the front entrance!" the man barked, arms crossed and stance firm. He was like an unshakeable rock that promised nothing but pain if you tried to move him.

Jinta's face contorted in panic. "Wha-what? But I just did that this morning! Why's it gotta be done again?"

"Because if you're going to act like a dirty brat, you deserve to be out with the rest of the dirt!" Tessai exclaimed. A massive arm shot across the room, grabbing Jinta by the collar and throwing him to the ground by the shop's entryway. I almost felt sorry for him, but a little rough treatment at the hands of Tessai was nothing new.

"Now go clean up the front door while you clean up your act!" the man yelled, his voice reverberating off the walls of the shop and hanging in the air with more than an idle threat of violence if his words weren't heeded.

Jinta struggled to his feet. His eyes locked onto me as he did, and they were full of death. I shot him a side-eyed glance, faking a chuckle to rub in the humiliation just a bit further. That was enough to get him to shove his hands in his pockets and skulk outside.

Tessai turned to face me, looking me up and down. What was he trying to do?. Our eyes locked for a second, then two, and then he finally broke eye contact to turn his head towards the back room and hold one hand up to his mouth to project his voice.

"Boss, Lady Karin has come to see us. She says it's urgent."

The door separating the back room from the rest of the store slid open, and the clacking of sandals against the tatami mats signified that Urahara had finally shown his face. Well, not really. He was still hiding his mouth behind that dumb folding fan that he always carried around.

"My, my. You were just here last week, Kurosaki-san. Could it be you've used up all of our product and want some more? Perhaps you have a complaint? You know, I did tell you that 'Back Pain Be Gone Theta' came with Vitamin C. If it's about that – "

"I'm not here to buy anything or to complain," I said maybe a little too earnestly. "I'm just here to ask a few questions."

I never had liked beating around the bush.

Urahara's head tilted to the side, his fan spreading out further than it already was as he considered what I was saying. There was a moment of silence, and in that time I could practically see the gears turning in his head. Urahara was the kind of guy who was way smarter than he let on, so whatever he was thinking was probably important.

I still had my doubts, though. Was he trying to figure out whether or not to help me? Was he planning out his moves for his dumb game already? Should I be trying to plan out how to play it as well?

"Are you sure that I'm the best person to ask? Wouldn't your brother be of more help? Though from my understanding, he's lost his touch. Maybe a friend of his, then?"

Damn it. We'd already started playing, hadn't we? I don't know how he did it, but he knew what I was going to ask about already. He'd also figured they had to do with Ichigo, if that small remark was to be considered more than just speculation. Urahara didn't make speculations.

"My brother isn't the kind of person who likes answering questions about himself. Asking his friends…they'd probably just tell me to go and ask him. Or worse, they'd tell him what I asked them. I don't need him suddenly worrying about me when he should be more concerned with himself."

The room went dead quiet again. Urahara and I locked eyes, and I tried to put up as confident of a front as I could. I don't know why, but I wanted him to know I was serious about this. I couldn't come off like some embarrassed little girl; not if I wanted to do anything real for Ichigo.

"Very well," Urahara said, his folding fan snapping shut and revealing his smile. "I've told you this once before, but I owe your family quite the debt. Your brother was a big help to me once, Kurosaki-san. I'll do whatever I can to help you."

"So I've heard, but you never told me exactly what it was he did for you," I countered. It was true – all I knew was that Ichigo had used his power to do something for Urahara, and that apparently it was big enough to get a bunch of free stuff from his store.

"Oh? That wouldn't have anything to do with your questions, would it? I can already tell you that you may not like the answer if that's the case."

Did it? Ichigo obviously did a favor for Urahara back when he had his power, but how did that affect anything?

The only way Ichigo's favor to Urahara could coincide with me having questions about Ichigo's power was if…

"That depends," I kept my voice level. "Did that favor have anything to do with Ichigo losing his power as a Shinigami?"

It was barely visible, but I saw his eyes widen just a bit. Either I had hit the mark with that question, or he was surprised that I even knew what a Shinigami was. Still, Urahara was crafty and good at hiding things. He was quick to regain the small amount of composure he'd lost. That didn't make me any less mad.

"And if it did?"

That was practically a yes, and he knew it.

"Then I want to know what you can do to help him get it back.. He's been different since he lost it. Too different," I narrowed, my eyes boring into his as my fists curled at my sides. I was practically glaring at him at this point, but Urahara looked completely unfazed. "At the very least, you can tell me why nobody from Soul Society has come to see him since he lost them."

"Unfortunately Kurosaki-san, there's just no way for me to shake my magic wand over your brother and give his power back to him. Not this time," he said with an air of regret in his voice, lifting his arms halfheartedly to his sides as she shook his head, pulling his fan away in the process to reveal that dumb half-smile of his.

"As for the absence of his old acquaintances, I can only imagine they've been busy. They do have quite a few responsibilities, and the whole mess that put us in this situation in the first place has needed to be cleaned up on top of all that. Hollows are one thing, but bureaucracy is a different monster entirely."

I sighed, tilting my head down to gaze at the floor of the shop. So that was how it was going to be, huh? The Shinigami couldn't help because they were busy, and even though Ichigo was around his friends, it wasn't like they were doing much to help him. Urahara couldn't even do anything.

This time.

Anger flared white hot and new in my chest. If Urahara had been the reason my brother lost his power as well as the reason he'd gotten them in the first place, then what the hell had Ichigo ever gotten out of the deal? This game Urahara played was about equal exchange, and Ichigo had left it with nothing. That had me absolutely livid.

"Wait. What do you mean 'this time'?" I blurted. "Did you do something to him to give him his power the first time? Why won't it work again? What did you do to my brother!?"

"Now, now. Calm down, Kurosaki-san," Urahara started, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "While I must say you're quite astute, you still aren't entirely right. It's true that I helped your brother gain his power, but I didn't _give_ him anything. The power I helped him unlock was his to begin with. I was merely helping replace the ones that he'd already lost."

Realizing that anger probably wasn't going to get me anywhere, I took a breath. I had to keep a level head if I wanted to figure all this out. There was still one more important question that I knew to ask.

"So if you unlocked the power that was his from the start, how did he get Shinigami power the first time?"

The question hung in the air for a second, the whole room suddenly falling quiet. It took me a second to realize, but Urahara had stopped looking at me. Someone else was in the shop; someone taller than me.

I didn't even have to turn around. Something in my gut was telling me that there was only one other person who could be here right now.

"Ah, if it isn't Kurosaki-san's brother. What brings you to my humble little store? If you're looking for your friends, I'm pleased to report that Hollow activity has been rather low lately. I have no idea where you might start looking for them."

An all too familiar "che," rang through the air. I turned, looking up and meeting my brother's eyes. I hadn't even heard him come in. Then again, I didn't realize that Tessai had left either. My observation skills may be a little lacking when I'm focused on a conversation. Still, I couldn't help but notice Ichigo's expression as he looked at me.

Ever since he lost his power, his face never changed much from his usual bored scowl or melancholic frown. Now he was scowling as deeply as I'd ever seen him, and his eyes were sharp, focused, and full of anger. I knew I was in trouble.

"I-Ichigo. What are you doing here?" I was obviously shocked, and on top of that I looked incredibly guilty. I couldn't even bring myself to look him in the eye – my gaze darting for the wall on my right even though I was too tense to turn away from him.

"That's my line," he began. "Why are you hanging around Urahara's place? There are other candy stores. Ones that have better customer service."

"So rude, Kurosaki-san," the other man broke in, holding a hand to his chest and doing his best to look scandalized. "Your harsh words have wounded me so. But honestly, your sister is here to stock up on some spirit repellants and other product that people with her particular affinity for attracting souls sometimes have to deal with."

Ichigo turned, his eyes boring into Urahara.

"If it was just for help with spirits and Hollows, I'd be okay with it. The problem is that I distinctly heard her talking about Shinigami power. Don't tell me you're thinking about doing something to my sister, you geta-wearing bastard," Ichigo snarled.

He might have been angry, but this was the first emotion I'd seen my brother express besides disdain and depression in seventeen months. Part of me was relieved that he could still do something like this, but the other side of me was worried about him just as much. Even when he was at his lowest point, he still somehow found a way to find me and protect me if he thought I was in danger. I almost felt a little guilty for making him think I needed help. I didn't even register his accusation, truth be told.

"How bold, Kurosaki-san. I have none of those intentions for your sister. Not in the slightest. Though I suppose it's good of you to acknowledge she's finally coming into her own as a woman. She's bound to have developed – "

"You know what I'm talking about! She's thirteen, you jackass!" Ichigo screamed, slamming his foot against the floor in single, firm impact. Between his voice and his action, the room shook with Ichigo's outrage. His face had gone bright red, and all the seriousness from moments ago just melted out of the room. If I was honest with myself, my face probably looked a lot like his.

"My sincerest apologies. However, it doesn't matter if we're talking about this or that," Urahara replied, his voice taking on a more civilized tone and his expression changing from his affable grin to a frown that matched my brother's own. "I've told you that I have no intention of doing anything to your sister. You and your family have nothing but my utmost respect. I would never do anything to harm any of you."

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief, his body language much less threatening now that he'd relaxed a bit. It seemed that Urahara had managed to quell the situation. I was feeling pretty relieved myself. The last thing I needed was to see Urahara get beat down because he pissed my brother off.

"Karin," Ichigo said, looking over in my direction. I turned to meet his eyes, and the bags underneath them had seemed to fade for the first time since he'd come out of his coma. It was like the real Ichigo – through this one small act of making sure I was okay – had woken up.

"Yeah?" I asked more out of habit than anything else.

"Don't stay out too long. Dad should be expecting you home soon from whatever it was you told him you were doing. I've gotta get back to work, alright?"

"Okay," I smiled, "See you at home. Don't be out too late either. Yuzu might let your dinner get cold."

Instead of responding, Ichigo turned around and offered a nonchalant wave as he walked out the door to the shop. Part of me had to admit that I was happy to see him slowly getting back to his old self, but I knew that there had to be something I could do for him still. Whatever that was, it had to be something to do with his Shinigami power.

But was that enough? Could I let him walk off with just a few words and a smile? It had been so long since I felt like I was genuinely interacting with him, and in that brief moment I'd seen Ichigo totally break out of whatever had been holding him down.

I wanted my brother back – not some cheap imitation that sulked around the house and acted helplessly, but the Ichigo who was unafraid and could pick up a sword to fight anything that stood in his way or tried to hurt the people he cared about. I wanted Ichigo to be strong, because when he was strong he was truly himself.

He needed his power back. I understood that much now.

"So, do you still have questions for me Kurosaki-san?"

I turned to face Urahara, setting determination into my eyes. "Yeah. How did Ichigo get power before you gave it to him?"

Urahara smirked, almost like he'd been expecting me to ask that question again.

"You see, when a Shinigami runs a human through with their blade, they can transfer their power to that human. It's a risky process, and it's only supposed to be temporary to boot. But given your brother's natural affinity for the power, it lasted for a lot longer. He only lost them when the life of the person who gave them to him was in danger. She needed them more than he did at that point."

She?

Rukia.

I grit my teeth. Everything always came back to Rukia. It was so stupid.

No, I needed to focus on the matter at hand. If I became a Shinigami, I could give Ichigo power again. I could give him the one thing he needed to smile again. He'd be strong; he'd be able to fight Hollows with his friends, and he wouldn't have to be tied down to something that would keep dragging him down into depression. After spending all that time needing his protection, wasn't this the least I could do?

"Then I've made up my mind," I said. "I don't need free product from your store. In place of that, turn me into a Shinigami."

* * *

 _Well, what do you think? Feel free to leave a review._

 _As a final note for this chapter: This story is labeled IchiRuki for a reason. Give it a little time. We'll get there eventually._


	2. Decide, Decide, Decide

_I've made some more updates to this chapter, and by that I mean I've pretty much entirely rewritten it to be in the third person. I think I'll keep the first chapter in the first person, though. That's sort of a signature of mine, I guess._

 **Updated 10/15/17**

* * *

Karin let one long, shaky breath go, almost surprised at her own words. To her discomfort, Urahara seemed to be intent on letting them hang in the air for as long as he could. The wait was driving her insane; she almost wanted to just apologize, walk out of the store, and never look back.

"Well," the shopkeeper finally drawled. "I don't know if you missed your brother's speech just now, but that's more or less the one thing he's expressly forbidden me to do."

She knew he was right. There was no way that Ichigo would roll over and knowingly let her become a Shinigami. Especially not after all the things he'd probably had to go through as one. But could she really just stand by and watch her older brother suffer in silence because helping him would be dangerous?

"What Ichi-nii said doesn't matter," Karin huffed, asserting herself. "I'm in charge of what I do, and if he needs someone to give him a Shinigami's power…If he wants that again, then I'm going to be the one to give it to him!" Ichigo had always, _always_ been there for her and Yuzu. Even if it meant going against his wishes, it was high time that she paid him back for that. It was what a good sister would do.

"It's just not that simple, Kurosaki-san," Urahara sighed. "Even if it worked on a normal person, after what your brother went through there's no guarantee that he'd be able to receive the power again. There's a way to get the job done, but…"

"That's the first time I've ever heard you avoid solving a problem you knew the answer to. Don't tell me Aizen made you go soft enough to make asinine excuses, Kisuke."

The voice of the newcomer was gruff, almost like that of an old man. It was enough to catch both Karin and Urahara's attention, but only the former seemed shocked at the sight of a small black cat standing by the entrance to the store's back room.

"Is that…That cat can talk?" Karin asked, one brow quirked as her gaze shifted between Urahara and the animal in question.

"Oh? Haven't you met Yoruichi?" Urahara replied. "I could have sworn that you had. Well, I guess it's not important now. The long and short of it is yes, I suppose."

"So what, did you just find a dead cat on the side of the road and pop a soul pill in its mouth? Seems a little cruel, even for you."

A funny sort of smirk wormed its way onto Urahara's face at that, but Yoruichi already bristling at Karin's suggestion and wasn't going to let him get a word in edgewise.

"Hey! Do I look like a corpse to you, you little brat!?"

"Now, now, Yoruichi," Urahara chided. "I'm sure Kurosaki-san didn't mean anything by that. She doesn't know you, so it's only understandable for her to ask questions."

"Whatever," the cat scoffed. "She should still earn to show some respect. That idiot she calls a brother wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for me, you know."

"Excuse me?" Karin cut in.

Really, if a simple housecat had managed to save her brother's life at any time, then maybe he wasn't as strong as people had made him out to be. Wasn't he supposed to be some big-shot Shinigami who could take out any monster that came his way?

"I'd like to think I had a bit of a hand in that as well," the shopkeeper replied, a competitive gleam twinkling in his eye. "After all, I seem to recall all of his training both here and in Soul Society being entirely of my own design using tools that I invented."

"And yet someone – namely _me_ – had to drag his mangled body to safety after every other fight he got into. Not to mention the time I had to fight off Soi Fong and all her lackeys. How many fights did you get into during that trip again?" Yoruichi snarked, giving Karin the impression that Urahara hadn't been in Soul Society at all.

But even if she was following the fight, Karin was growing frustrated with how easily people seemed to think that they could ignore her. She didn't know anything about what the stuff they were arguing. Even if she found the sight of a middle aged man getting chewed out by his cat funny, it wasn't enough to distract her from the more pressing issue. Anything else was a waste of time.

"I don't care who Ichi-nii got more help from in Soul Society or whatever!" she blurted, arms crossed and an utterly miffed look on her face. "Are you going to stop bickering and help me become a Shinigami or not!?"

Thankfully, that was enough to get both of them to shut up.

"Wasn't that much obvious?" Yoruichi proposed, planting both paws further out on the ground and stretching to try to ease some of the tension in the room. "Of course we're going to. There's no reason we wouldn't."

"Well, I wouldn't say _no_ reason. I mean…" Urahara started.

"You're going to help her and you're going to like it!" Yoruichi snapped, eyes locking in on Urahara as if he was some sort of prey. "You still owe me more than your fair share of favors for all those artifacts I lost thanks to you and your thrice-damned Hougyoku."

Artifacts? Hougyoku? If Karin didn't know what they were talking about before, she sure as hell didn't now. Still, if it was over her head and didn't have anything to do with her becoming a Shinigami, then it wasn't important.

"Fine, fine," Urahara conceded. "Kurosaki-san, you've won me over. Let's start on a training schedule – when do your classes start?"

 _"I what?"_ Karin thought. "My first day is tomorrow. What do you mean training?"

"I think you're smart enough to answer that question yourself," the man smirked.

A jolt of energy hit Karin's spine. She couldn't help but grin. This was it; her chance to get Ichigo back to the way he'd been before. Try as she might to contain her reaction, she couldn't help but turn and clench her fist at her side in victory.

Attempting to catch herself, Karin swung both arms to her side and dipped her head into a low bow.

"Thank you," she said. "I promise that I can handle whatever you throw at me. If it's okay with you, I can come by right after school tomorrow."

"Good to hear," Urahara answered, moving to the counter and scooping a few items into a plastic bag. "I'll fetch you a few things to take home. You need to make that lie you told your brother at least a little bit convincing, after all. Remember to try out that Back Pain Be Gone Theta – the vitamin C really does make all the difference."

"Sure, sure," Karin sighed. After her bag had been assembled, she hastily grabbed it and rushed out the door. She finally had the chance to help out Ichigo – to be the only one in the whole world who could do it – and she was riding on clouds because of it.

Of course, if she'd stayed behind she may have heard the bigger story going on. The story of an exile coming for revenge and the bloody battle that was no doubt headed their way. The story of how whatever reiatsu she could muster would never be enough to stir the power sleeping inside her brother back awake. Not on its own, and certainly not without a catalyst that could break down the walls between what was possible and what wasn't.

Urahara might have felt a little bad about roping Karin into a plan seventeen months in the making if she wasn't so cheery to come into the fold.

* * *

As far as science was concerned, a Planck Constant was the smallest increment of time possible. It was the duration that the smallest particle of energy took to shift in the smallest possible way. And yet, somehow, Yuzu had managed to not give Karin even one of them to compose herself after walking through the front door of the clinic.

"Karin, you're back!" she cried, gliding across the kitchen and coming to a dead stop at an uncomfortably close distance. "I was getting worried, you know! You usually don't spend this much time out and about."

"Er, yeah," Karin muttered, shuffling around her sister in a desperate attempt to maintain her personal space. "Sorry about that. Had something I needed to take care of."

Yuzu, not having any of that, took Karin's attempt to brush off the situation as a reason to cup a hand around her mouth and whisper something scandalous into her sister's ear.

"Could it be that instead of playing soccer you were out with _a boy?_ "

Karin jolted away from the words as if they were poison. She felt a little dirty just hearing Yuzu make the suggestion. Honestly, it was scary how much more girly she was becoming lately. Was there a limit to how cliché and schmaltzy she could be anymore?

"What the hell, Yuzu!? Since when have I shown _any_ interest in dating?"

"That's not a _no_ ," Yuzu sang, stretching out the final syllable and flashing a small smile that made Karin incredibly uncomfortable. They were only thirteen years old, Karin thought. There was no way in hell she was going to start dating any time soon. Especially not when her schedule was going to be filled up for however long it took to get Ichigo his power back.

"Leave her alone, Yuzu."

From the stairs, Ichigo seemed to have come to Karin's rescue for the second time that day. Given his track record lately, that was practically a new record. It was almost like just making the decision to step forward and help him out had already started to fix the issue. Karin didn't care if the thought was illogical, it made her feel better about her choice and that was enough.

"Oh? Do you know something about our dearest sister that I don't, Ichigo?" Yuzu questioned, her tone so coy that she may start batting her eyelashes at any moment.

Still, it was like she didn't notice that he was acting differently at all – Karin couldn't remember the last time he'd said anything to Yuzu (or herself for that matter) unless she'd spoken to him first. Maybe that's what he needed, though; someone who would treat him the same way with or without powers. That was the kind of person Yuzu was; a pillar of warmth and familiarity in the middle of a storm.

"Yeah," Ichigo shot back. "She was down at Hat 'n' Clogs' place today to pick up a few things. You should ask her to share. You're probably about as likely to get pestered by ghosts as she is. And remember, you two have just enough reiatsu to be felt by Hollows without coming off as a threat."

With a smug grin, Karin lofted the white plastic bag of spirit repellents to her shoulder level and gave it a taunting swing through the air. Yuzu responded with a huff, slumping her shoulders and stomping her foot on the floor.

"You're so _boring_ , Karin," she pouted. "No one's going to think you're fun if all you do is hang out at that creepy candy shop all day. I mean he's got kids, but they're not exactly popular, y'know."

"It ain't about my reputation," Karin shot back. "It's about keeping those damn annoying spirits out of our house."

Yuzu groaned, turning to look at Ichigo for some sort of backup but being met with nothing but his crossed arms, his usual scowl, and a nod.

"I suppose," she relented. "But anyway, dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Ichigo, could you please set the table? Karin, go put that stuff away and get Dad. Tell him that patient he's looking at can wait if that stomach ache he came in with this afternoon isn't appendicitis or worse."

"On it," the siblings responded simultaneously.

The rest of the night after that was more of the same. The Kurosaki family dinner concluded without too many disruptions, Isshin went back to check up on his patient, and Yuzu ran back up to her and Karin's room to put the finishing touches on her summer homework. Karin was on dish duty that night, leaving Ichigo without much to do besides retreat to his room.

That gave Karin plenty of time alone with her thoughts and the sound of a running faucet.

Her head was stuck on what being a Shinigami was supposed to be like. Was it any different than being a normal person? Well, a normal person that could see spirits, anyway. Did they all carry big swords like the one Ichigo lugged around a year and a half ago?

And, maybe most importantly, why was it that he loved being one so much?

The questions swirled around in her head, piling up until she couldn't take it anymore. The last few dishes were rushed, but they were clean enough to put on the drying rack. For the second time today, Karin needed answers. And right now there was only one place to get them.

Small feet tapped their way up to the second floor of the Kurosaki family home and carried her to Ichigo's door. It wasn't often she stood in front of it; this was Ichigo's private space, after all. But if she really wanted answers, she'd have to have the courage to ask questions. The first step towards them was reaching out and rapping her knuckles against the wood.

This was stupid, she thought. It was already pretty late at night, and Ichigo didn't exactly have a reputation of talking about his time as a Shinigami all that often. And had she really needed to knock so loudly? If he was asleep, she probably woke him up. She doubted that a cranky Ichigo would be willing to answer a normal question, let alone one about a part of his past he'd lost.

Still, the door creaked open to reveal her older brother in a pair of flannel pajama pants and a white t-shirt before she could turn away. If he hadn't already been in bed, he must have been getting ready to go there.

"Yo. Need something?" he asked.

"Um," she stuttered. "Yeah."

Crap. She been too busy worrying to think of how to approach the issue. Well, here was hoping he wouldn't mind her being direct about it.

"I know you've been…Well, you've been sorta down lately. And after the way you acted at Urahara's today I get that you probably don't want to talk about it, but…"

"You wanna know the whole story."

Ichigo's response had cut her off. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Y-yeah. How'd you know?"

"I'm not an idiot, Karin," Ichigo sighed. "I get it. You're curious. Just…just ask me first next time instead of going to that guy." His followed up those words with a genuine, cautious smile. "He's fine for groceries, but he's not the most trustworthy information dealer out there. I know that firsthand."

"Could have used that heads-up earlier today," Karin muttered, remembering how dodgy his answers to her questions had been. She'd needed to deconstruct everything he was saying just to figure out the real meaning to his statements, and even then he still left her feeling like she wasn't playing his game with a full deck of cards.

"Why? Was he up to something?" Ichigo's smile warped, concern and shock washing over his features. "Did he try to make you do something you didn't want to?" His fist slammed against the wooden door frame. "I'll kill him!" he seethed. "Then I'll wait for him to turn into a Hollow and I'll kill him again!"

"Ichi-nii!" Karin barked. Seriously, what was up with everyone suddenly thinking she was up to something weird? It was rude, and more importantly it was annoying!

Ichigo stopped, fazed by her shout. Then, he breathed. Somehow, even though he was calming down, his eyes seemed more awake than ever to Karin. Was it strange that her brother really only seemed to be himself in the heat of a struggle? In the middle of a fight that he was participating in for someone besides himself? These past seventeen months had been absent of those, and he'd all but shut down because of it.

Maybe that was why he loved being a Shinigami so much.

"All right, I'll spill," Ichigo said. He stepped out of the way of the door, motioning for her to enter. Karin followed suit, letting him lead her to his bed where she sat down while he pulled his desk chair to the middle of the room. He sat in it backwards, almost as a way of using the back of the chair to shield himself from something. Still, he managed to make it look almost casual with the way his shoulders slumped and his forearms rested against the curve of it.

"So," he started. "Was there anything specific you wanted me to start with, or should I just go from the beginning?"

"Urahara told me this wasn't the first time you'd lost your powers."

Ichigo flinched, and a spike of guilt pierced through to Karin's core. She probably could have approached that with a little more tact. Great, she thought, what a wonderful job she was doing of getting information out of him.

"If it's a sore subject, you don't have to talk about it," she backpedaled, waving a hand around as if to casually dispel the awkward tension.

"No, it's not that," Ichigo returned. He brought his hands up to his face, trailing his fingertips down from the ridge of his nose and around his eyes to his mouth with a sigh. "I'm just surprised he told you that much. What did he say about it, exactly?"

"That he helped you get them back," Karin started. "And that you did him a favor in return. And then a few more after that, apparently. Enough so that he doesn't mind giving me free crap whenever I walk by the store."

"Figures," Ichigo chuckled. "Hat 'n' Clogs might talk a big game, but he's one hell of a guilty conscience at heart."

"What was it that you did for him? Doesn't seem like it was all that trivial."

Ichigo shook his head. "That," he breathed. "Is the start of a _long_ story. You've got school in the morning. Wanna whittle it down a bit?"

This was it. Karin had the perfect chance to get exactly the kind of information out of Ichigo that she needed. She'd be an idiot not to take him up on it.

"Well, how about you tell me how you got your powers back the first time?" she asked. "What convinced you to do it in the first place, anyway?"

Karin didn't know why he smiled at the time. To be honest, Ichigo didn't really know either. Somehow, thinking back to his glory days – and yes, he knew how old that made him sound – where he was swinging a sword hilt at Urahara with one thought on his mind was cathartic.

"I think I can explain that much," he started. "Believe it or not, Hat 'n' Clogs is the one who found me."

For the next hour and a half, Ichigo painted Karin a mental picture of everything he'd gone through as part of Urahara's training. He told her how he'd lost his powers in a fight against some other Shinigami whose name he didn't bother mentioning, about how Urahara had patched him up after the fight and offered to get him his powers back, and about how he'd gladly taken him up on the offer.

Karin noticed how Ichigo had conveniently left the motivation behind accepting out of the story, but she paid it no mind. She was more interested in the how than the why right now. If she was going to give him power, she needed to cultivate it first.

When he got to the part where Urahara had him fighting against Ururu, Karin nearly cracked up. The thought of someone as innocent and meek as that girl giving Ichigo more than a run for his money was almost too much.

"Oh, you like that, huh?" he teased. "Gonna laugh at your poor older brother because he nearly got his ass kicked by a little girl?"

"It's not my fault you apparently couldn't hold your own," Karin cackled.

"Hey, she's a lot tougher than she looks," Ichigo defended. "And when you first get ripped out of your body, you don't exactly have your bearings. After I lost my powers, I was human again. People aren't meant to last long outside their bodies before they die."

"Sure, sure. Just keep going, okay?"

"Fine, but things are about to get intense. Don't blame me if this keeps you up tonight."

Ichigo's explanation of the pit that Urahara had thrown him into left Karin on the edge of the bed. Part of her wondered what kind of person thought it was a good idea to throw someone in a pit for three days, but she knew that Ichigo and Urahara were apparently willing to do anything to awaken the power sleeping inside her brother.

Still, she hadn't known what a Hollow really was up until now. Ichigo hadn't focused on it for long, but the warning look in his eyes was enough to tip her off about how serious he was. If she didn't get the hang of this Shinigami thing and stayed dead for too long without going to Soul Society, she'd wind up a Hollow just like he nearly had. She doubted Urahara would hesitate to kill her at that point.

And even after Ichigo had somehow managed to pass his sword's test…

"It's like…They're a part of you, but also their own person. They feed off your power and eventually develop their own, so they get stronger and make you stronger the longer you use them. It's weird, I don't understand it at all, so it isn't important," Ichigo dismissed.

There was still something Urahara wanted him to do.

"So eventually, I just stopped in my tracks and Zangetsu showed up and told me that running away wasn't going to fix any of my problems. It was like time was frozen, or maybe my perception of it had slowed down to the point where he could tell me his name. After that, it was like this well of new power just opened up in me and I knew where to point it to get the results I needed."

Karin had never really taken Ichigo for the kind of person who liked telling stories. Still, the way his expression slowly shifted as he described each event spun a thread of emotion into her chest that wouldn't have been there with just his words alone. It almost felt less like hearing him and more like watching him relive the experience.

"After that, Urahara and I just fought all out until it was time for Chad, Inoue, and Ishida to bust into Soul Society with me. He really beat some good lessons about fighting into me. Honestly, he's the one of the only reasons I was able to save Ruki –"

The name died on his lips before it could fully escape. Cold, crippling reality settled on his features and washed away the look of fond remembrance that he'd been sporting up until now, and Karin was all too quick to put two and two together.

"The reason you wanted power was so that you could save Rukia."

Ichigo looked down, refusing to meet Karin's eyes but still offering a nod. She grit her teeth, frustration boiling in the pit of her stomach. Everything was always about Rukia with him. Of course this came back to her, too. Why wouldn't it?

"And the reason you've been so miserable for the last seventeen months? Is it because we haven't seen or heard anything from her?"

"There was a war, Karin," Ichigo retaliated. "People died. _You_ almost died. I needed that power to protect as many people as I could, but I couldn't save everyone. Soul Society needs time to rebuild; time to heal. They need her for that."

"It's been a _year_ _and a half_ , Ichigo!" Karin shouted, dropping his nickname for the first time since the time she thought he'd told their dad about her ability to see ghosts. "How much time does she need? How do you know she hasn't been around and just didn't want to see you?"

"It's not just about her," Ichigo insisted. "There's a hierarchy. She's an officer in a division. She takes assignments, gets stationed in towns that are probably all over the world. Karakura has plenty of people looking out for it. They probably just don't think she's needed here."

"Right, everyone in Soul Society just ignored the fact that you charged in there to save her. And what did you have to save her from? Please tell me that whatever it was wound up dead or destroyed in that war you were talking about, because if she chose to stay over there when the people who tried to kill her are still running around, you really must not mean that much to her."

Karin had interacted with Rukia on several occasions. At once, she might have even admired the woman. But in the past seventeen months without a trace of her, enough time had passed that Karin had developed more than a few reservations regarding how much Rukia actually cared. Still, whatever part of her that was still loyal to her could-have-been older sister ached at the words.

Ichigo was speechless. His gaze was locked on the ground and he refused to physically acknowledge Karin's words. Had she taken a step too far, she wondered? She'd had suspicions that Ichigo harbored some sort of deeper feelings for Rukia, but could he really still be so attached after all this time?

"It's not just about her," he finally muttered. "I know there are only so many excuses I can make, but it's not just about her."

"Then _what?_ " Karin demanded. "What could you possibly be so upset about?"

"I'm weak. All my life, I've been weak. Couldn't save Mom. Couldn't do any good after she was dead. Just coasted through life waiting for something to happen. When Rukia gave me her powers, it felt like I was finally doing what I was meant to do." Ichigo clenched his fist around the ghost of a sword's hilt, grimacing when nothing resisted his closing hand. "Now that they're gone, I'm back to square one; back to being useless. Except now I know that I could be doing more."

So that was it. He'd associated Rukia with power, and he needed that power to feel useful to the people around him. Saving her and then fighting in the war that cost him that power had only reinforced the idea. It made sense, but it also made Karin all the more determined to become a Shinigami herself.

If she could get Ichigo his powers back, then maybe he could start to feel useful again. And if he didn't need Rukia to feel useful, then maybe he could finally get over her.

"Hey," she whispered, reaching out and placing a palm against the back of one of Ichigo's wrists. "If it makes you feel any better, I still think you're one hell of an older brother. With powers or without."

"Guess that's worth something, huh?" Ichigo asked, standing and moving the chair back to his desk. "All right. You've had your story. Time to get to bed, yeah?"

"Mm-hm," Karin agreed. Without putting much thought into it, she lunged off the bed and wrapped her arms around him and pushed her forehead into his chest. "Thanks for talking to me, Ichi-nii."

He didn't return the hug, but he did put a hand on her shoulder. That was enough for her to know that he didn't hate her for what she'd said. That was enough.

After a quick trip down the hall and a change of clothes, Karin was in bed. She needed to get some sleep before school tomorrow, and that meant clearing her head of all the thoughts taking up space. She was still mad about Rukia, but it still felt good to get a little of it off her chest. With a sigh, she decided to be optimistic.

She had her work cut out for her tomorrow. She couldn't afford to be her own worst enemy.

* * *

 _I hope you enjoy the new and hopefully improved version of this chapter. There's been a few changes as far as specific ways things happen go that I think improve the story a bit and prevent this from basically being an info-dump of things you already know for Karin's benefit._

 _If you caught any spelling or grammar mistakes, feel free to point them out to me. I know I'm not perfect._

 _\- 白_


	3. Welcome to our Xcution

_Hey everyone,_

 _It's around right now that some of the creative liberties with canon start trickling in. Don't expect Ichigo's motivations or even his actions to mesh entirely with the original Fullbringer arc from here on out._

 _Please remember to tell me what you think in the reviews. I'm always working to sharpen the knife, so to speak, when it comes to my writing. It's not that I don't appreciate a pat on the back, but a more critical look at things will be more greatly appreciated._

 ** _Updated: 10/15/17_**

* * *

Since the time she was a little girl, Karin would always wake up before her alarm when she was excited about something.

It wasn't the kind of thing she was proud of – the childish stigma about having trouble sleeping before a holiday was something she'd rather not have pinned on her. So to dodge that sort of thing, she'd usually lay in bed and wait for a decent hour before rolling out of it. Today was different, though.

There was a lot that needed to be done. Aside from the usual preparations that came with getting ready with the school, she had to covertly sneak a few extra things into her backpack.

Okay, so it was really just a set of clothes she didn't mind getting sweaty in and one of the many, _many_ first aid kits that populated any house that was attached to a clinic. But who could blame her for being out of bed before the sun had even broken over the horizon? She was excited!

Ichigo had talked about the kind of training that she would need to do if she wanted to become a Shinigami, and she could only assume that hers would be similar if not exactly the same. But still, three days wasn't a lot of time, especially when she was still going to school. She didn't have the luxury of being on break like Ichigo had when he lost his powers.

Maybe since they weren't on a time crunch, Urahara would be lenient and not throw her into a magic pit that turned her into a Hollow faster.

With that thought, Karin finished stuffing her backpack with what she'd need for the day. It didn't look too full, which meant that she'd thankfully be able to avoid suspicion so long as Yuzu wasn't particularly nosy today.

"Karin?"

The girl whirled around, surprised that she hadn't even heard anyone coming down the stairs. She had to learn how to pay more attention to her surroundings if she was going to keep this a secret. Though to be fair, no one was ever up this early. Yuzu didn't even start breakfast for another 30 minutes, and Isshin slept like a rock until his food was halfway to the table.

Of course it was Ichigo who would defy expectations.

"What are you doing up this early?" he asked, yawning and wiping crust from his eye with a free hand. "You're not usually the one who has trouble sleeping in this family."

"You're not either," Karin shot back, hoping Ichigo's grogginess was enough to make him miss the start in her voice. "I hope that's not my fault."

It was true. For a while after Ichigo had lost his power, he'd had a rough time getting up in the morning. He'd even managed to take a few kicks to the head during the weird morning ritual he shared with his father. Of course, Yuzu and Karin had both brushed it off as a side effect of his powers going away. Things had corrected themselves after a while, but looking at Ichigo now Karin was almost sure he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep the night before.

"No, not really," Ichigo shrugged. "Just figured I should take a walk before school. Need to get my blood moving."

Karin didn't buy the excuse for one second. He was just sick of being holed up in his room an unable to get to bed. Guilt weighed down in her gut like a ball of hot iron, gluing her feet to the floor as her brother walked past her and out the door.

She didn't want him to go on his own, but she was afraid that she'd eventually slip up and spill her plan. Besides, if the headphones he'd put on before leaving were anything to go off of he'd have preferred to be alone anyway.

Either way, Karin hate lying to her brother. She hated it so much that she couldn't bring herself to make another move until someone else came along to disrupt her.

"Oh," Yuzu yawned, tiredly making her way down the stairs. "G'mornin' Karin. Yer up early. Gimme a second and I'll get breakfast goin'."

Yup, Karin thought. That was certainly Yuzu; always a slow starter in the morning. It was a good thing she'd perfected the routine of putting rice to the cooker and toasting some bread so long ago that she didn't have to worry about burning herself thoughtlessly.

"Hey Yuzu," Karin replied. "I'm just a little nervous about school is all."

"Mmhmm," Yuzu hummed, tipping Karin off to the fact that she wasn't really listening. "Can ya do me a favor 'n' go wake Ichigo up? Be nice if Dad didn' kick him this mornin'."

"Actually, I think he already took off. I'm not sure if he'll be back – he had his uniform on and everything."

"Kay," Yuzu replied, stretching the syllable as she covered her mouth to yawn again before schooping Ichigo's portion of rice out of the cooker and dumping it back into the bag. After that, she moved over to the stove, fetching a pan from the cabinet and the eggs from the refrigerator. Honestly, how easily she just decided Ichigo wouldn't be getting any food this morning scared Karin a bit.

Well, not that Yuzu was distracted, Karin figured it was as good of a chance as any to stash her bag by the front door and away from any prying eyes. From there on out, it was just a matter of getting through the school day and showing up at Urahara's.

That should have been easy enough, right?

* * *

When the final bell rung, Karin couldn't get out the front gate fast enough. She was practically fuming out the ears, fed up with how every little thing seemed to be bugging her. To start, the entrance ceremony had done its damnedest to whittle away at her patience in the way it dragged on. Her homeroom teacher had the most nasally voice imaginable, and she hadn't even gotten a chance to work out her frustrations in PE, which wasn't scheduled that day. All the pent up energy she'd been saving wasn't going anywhere.

But the worst of it all had been when Yuzu wound up in the same class as her. That wasn't to say she disliked being around her sister, but Yuzu had a tendency to say too much and be overly clingy. At lunch, she'd practically dragged Karin into eating with a whole bunch of people from a different elementary school. Apparently it was important to start making new friends as quickly as possible.

And when Karin wanted to come off as cool and aloof, Yuzu had crushed that ambition by telling everyone that she "only liked to act grumpy" and that "she'd actually been so excited to come to school this morning that she'd had trouble sleeping."

Karin had never been so close to punching someone before.

She huffed at the memory, wishing she had pockets to cram her hands into while hunching over. Stupid school uniforms and their stupid, girly skirts. If she wanted to look tomboyish and aloof, wasn't that her choice? Besides, Yuzu hadn't even been right about why Karin had woken up early. But getting bit in the ass by a white lie was better than Ichigo finding out the truth because of Yuzu's big mouth.

Karin shook her head, clearing her thoughts as she entered the Urahara shop's front yard. Strangely, no one seemed to be outside. That was weird, seeing that usually at least one or two kids were outside trying to get a hold of some form of after-school snack.

Urahara could insist that he wasn't running a candy store all he wanted to, but the customers would always wear him down eventually. The guy had to make some sort of money to stay alive and living, didn't he?

A closer look at the front door made the "closed" sign hanging from it obvious, but there was also a small note with hasty writing on it attached.

' _Unless, of course, you're Kurosaki-san. Then by all means, do come in.'_

Karin scrambled to snatch the paper off the door, crumpling it up and tossing it to the side. This was supposed to be a secret, not something that he projected to anyone who happened to walk by the shop. The last thing she needed was Ichigo getting even more suspicious. There was no way he'd believe another one of her lies if he'd seen that Urahara had already been expecting her again so soon after her last visit.

The door clattered open with a frustrated swing of Karin's hand, instantly gaining the attention of Jinta and Ururu from their respective stations.

"Hey! What the hell's your problem!?" Jinta barked, slamming his hands against the counter with grit teeth and a furrowed brow.

"That's my line!" Karin fired back, throwing a wadded ball of paper in the boy's face. "I thought this was supposed to be inconspicuous, not something you idiots hung on your front door!"

"Oh, get over yourself!" Jinta spat. "The boss is downstairs with Tessai. They're waiting for you, so hop to it."

"Downstairs?" Karin raised an eyebrow. "This place has a downstairs?"

Ichigo may have told her about a secret training area, but he said nothing about it being a part of the shop itself. In fact, the way he'd described it had made Karin think they were going to be training outside. Did Urahara really have some sort of secret basement?

Ururu took that as her cue to break the two apart, taking her attention off of dusting the counters to place a hand on Karin's shoulder. Karin whirled her head around, anger still set in her brow as she met Ururu's blank stare. For some reason, Karin couldn't bring herself to stay angry at that.

"I will show you to the ladder. Please follow me," the girl offered.

With a nod, Karin fell into step with Ururu and the two proceeded to the shop's back room. After she pulled a tatami mat out of the way, Ururu wrenched open the trapdoor underneath and revealed the vertical drop to Karin. At first, the girl was surprised. That hole went down deep. She could barely make out the light at the bottom of it. It must have been at least a hundred meters, and all that was there to connect the shop from the bottom of the pit was a rusted metal ladder.

"You want me to climb down this thing?" Karin asked incredulously.

"Of course. It's the only way to get to where you'll be training," Ururu replied with a nod. "If you'd like, I suppose I could secure you to my back and carry you down myself."

"Uh, no," Karin stuttered, waving a hand in front of her face. "I think I'm good."

Ururu nodded, standing and brushing her dress off before leaving Karin to change and proceed to the training grounds. After closing the door, she turned to acknowledge Jinta.

"In approximately twenty minutes, we should follow her to assist her training. Do you remember the owner's instructions?"

"Of course I do," Jinta purred, clapping a fist into his open palm. "I've been waiting for an opportunity like this a long time now."

By the grin on his face, Ururu could tell that Jinta was excited. Good. The more enthusiastic he was, the better Karin's results would be. That's what the owner had said, at least.

* * *

"Careful now, Tessai," Urahara warned. "There's no need to rush the bonding process. We have time."

"Forgive me," Tessai grunted, narrowing his gaze further onto his work. "But we need to finish before the metal sets or the union may not hold properly. Having to create a new sword at this point…"

"No, you're right. Here, allow me to slow the process."

Urahara extended a hand with his index and middle finger pointed at Tessai's work, a blue ball of flame kindling itself in mid-air before shooting forth and striking the ground.

"That should buy us another few minutes, hopefully. I'm sorry. If I'd realized forging the two together would take this long I would have set you up with a proper forge."

Urahara sighed, leaning his head back and bringing his index finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose. How many days had it been now? Four? Five? Truth be told, time was starting to blur together. All the more reason to finish this project soon – before any more mistakes could be made.

"No," Tessai grunted, the light surrounding his hands and the glowing mass of heated spirit particles on the ground intensifying. "Do not apologize for having high expectations of me. For anyone. It is the reason we're still alive today."

Urahara sighed. He supposed Tessai was right, but that didn't make him feel any better about it. Ginjo and Tsukishima had started to make their moves more quickly than he'd anticipated, and that meant that if they wanted to stay ahead of the curve then they'd have to put in the extra hours to make things work. And that, hopefully, is where Karin and Yuzu Kurosaki came into play.

Speaking of the Kurosaki girls…

The familiar _tak_ of tennis shoes impacting against the floor near the entrance caught Urahara's ears just a second or two after the girl's admittedly weak reiatsu began to brush against his senses. No, that wouldn't do. They'd have to fix that if she was going to be of any help.

"What the hell were you thinking!?"

Urahara looked up, taking note of the Kurosaki girl's enraged expression. She was red in the face, and not just from the exertion of climbing down to the training area.

"I think about a lot of things, Kurosaki-san. You'll have to be more specific," Urahara quipped.

"Whatever. Let's just get on with this, okay?" Karin groaned, shoulders slumping. She didn't even know why she was trying at this point. It was better just to get on with things. Having Urahara help her get powers was more important than trying and failing to work an apology out of him.

And suddenly, Karin felt the forceful stab of Urahara's cane against her forehead.

She stumbled back, not sure why he'd suddenly attacked her. Ichigo had never said anything about fighting the shopkeeper this early. He had said something about needing to get out of his body to do the training, though. Maybe…

When Karin righted herself, the first thing she noticed was her sudden shortness of breath. That was weird. She was a good athlete, so taking a knock to the head shouldn't have been enough to throw her off like this. She really had to work to get the air to come into her lungs, and even then it was almost like nothing was happening.

But if Ichigo had been right about needing to acclimate to existing outside her body, then that meant that she should have had a Chain of Fate.

She looked down to her chest where the heavy metal appendage and her collapsed body soon came into focus. So that was it, huh?

"Am I…"

"A ghost?" Urahara finished for Karin. "Not quite. Not yet, at least. As you probably know, that chain linking you to your body is the one thing separating you from life and death. If you want to be a Shinigami, then that means sooner or later you're going to have to cross that threshold."

Karin nodded. That wasn't anything new, really. So long as she could hop back into her body to head to school the same way Ichigo had done, it wasn't like she was _dead_ dead, after all. She'd still age; still live her life. If Ichigo had died in order to get his powers, she could do the same in order to give them back to him. That's what family did.

"Good. Well then, why don't you do a few laps around this place just to get your wits about you? We aren't in that much of a rush, so it's best if you take things easy. Think of it like a warm-up for a soccer game."

"No way," Karin shook her head. "No offense, but I didn't come here so you could take it easy on me."

It was true, Karin told herself. She was here for exactly one reason, and any time she wasted running laps would be time she wasn't working towards the endgame. Whatever Urahara had planned for her today, she was ready to jump headlong into it, just like her brother always had.

"Sorry, but you're not exactly in a position you can argue from," Urahara shrugged. "You have to get used to what it's like existing outside your body before you can take the first step, and you have to learn to crawl before you can walk."

Karin groaned. Why was it always so hard to get to the point with this guy?

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Karin collapsed to the ground drenched in sweat and gasping for air. Had running laps ever been this hard? If it had, she was suddenly much more appreciative of all the physical training she'd been doing thanks to soccer. How far had she run? Three kilometers? Just one? Being this out of shape was a curse.

"Okay, looks like you have your wits about you."

The girl looked up to Urahara weakly, unable to speak but conveying the need for approval with her eyes.

"Yes, yes, I know. Onto the next step. You'll have to catch your breath first, though. Hop back in your body, I'll have Tessai fetch us some water. Or maybe one of those energy drinks you sporty kids are into these days. The one with the word _sweat_ in the name, right?"

Karin gave a nod, sitting up and stretching out with the small amount of stamina that was returning to her. She wouldn't turn down a free sports drink.

"So wait," she said, sliding back into the prone body in front of her. "There's a few things I don't get about all this. For one, how come I'm still tired even though I haven't actually been working out? And why is it that I'm wearing the same clothes as a soul that I did before you jabbed me out of my body?"

Tessai, who had been sitting focused on something Karin couldn't quite make out while watching him during her run, had suddenly started moving and seemingly conjured the drink Urahara had been talking about from thin air. The shopkeeper took the bottle with a nod, dismissing his employee to go back about his business.

"Both interesting questions," Urahara responded. "To answer the first one, you need to see that your body and your soul are still very closely connected. Especially since that Chain of Fate is still linking you to it. Everything you do while outside your body is going to directly affect it in almost the same way it would if you were to do it inside. It's the same as a martial artist or a pro athlete doing image training, just much more potent."

"So if I were to get hurt while I wasn't in my body, then…"

"The injury would transfer over to your body after you re-entered it, yes. Though it may not be quite as severe."

"Then what about my clothes?"

"Well, that explanation is a bit simpler. Your soul is just wearing the souls of the clothing your body is."

"Really?" Karin asked, quirking a brow. "Even though they're not alive, they still have souls?"

"Everything does," Urahara replied. "Isn't that a pretty common belief here in Japan? It shouldn't come as a surprise to you. Tsukumogami and all that."

Karin nodded, satisfied with the answers Urahara had given and pleasantly surprised he hadn't tried to answer her in riddles like yesterday. At that point, the thirst was getting the better of her. She gestured a hand towards the bottle in Urahara's hands, which he quickly gave over to her with a nod.

"Ah, finally."

With a quick twist of her wrist, Karin broke the seal at the top of the bottle, popped the blue plastic cap, and proceeded to down the whole thing. Sure, she may not have been sweating all that much, but that didn't fix the dryness in her throat or the heat pounding in her head.

"Careful now," Urahara warned. "Don't drink that all just before the actual workout starts. You'll get a stomach ache."

Karin, already halfway through the bottle, ripped her lips away with a smack.

"The real workout? I thought you said we were taking this slow."

"Well of course we are. Do you see a Shattered Shaft anywhere around here? Still, if we were only going to put fifteen minutes a day into this training, it might take you years to develop Shinigami powers. Now that obviously won't do, so I've arranged a little sparring partner for you to help give you a jump-start. That always seemed to work well for your brother."

"A sparring partner? I thought I was going to be fighting you for this."

Urahara shook his head, clicking his tongue at her. "No, we aren't quite there yet. Though I admire the fact that you thought to copy your brother's homework, so to speak."

"So what? Is Ururu going to come down, then?"

"Well, that was my plan at first, but someone else was very, _very_ eager to lend a hand for this. I just couldn't say no to him, you understand."

"Wait," Karin froze. "Him?"

As if the question triggered it, a sudden crash caught Karin's attention. She whirled around, shocked to see Jinta crouched low and grinning wickedly at her from his spot at the entrance to the training area. By the cracked ground underneath him and the cloud of dust he was in the middle of, Karin could only assume that Jinta had actually _jumped_ down the tunnel to get here.

Just how crazy was this kid?

"There he is now," Urahara commented, and Karin suddenly felt the end of his cane at the base of her skull. When had he gotten behind her?

"Out you go, then."

It happened simultaneously, or maybe Jinta had just reacted to it so fast Karin thought that was what happened, but when Urahara pushed her out of her body Jinta took off running. When Karin finally caught herself, he was already a good twenty feet in the air and flying towards her with a fist cocked back. There was really only one reaction she could have at that point.

"Oh…"

* * *

"Shit!"

Ichigo's feet sprung out from under him before he could even think to move. Whether it was a practiced reflex, the shock from seeing a friend lying in a steadily growing pool of blood, or some heightened form of instinct gained from his days as a Shinigami, Ichigo didn't care. All that mattered was that Ishida needed help, and Ichigo – powerless as he was – was within arm's reach.

If he hadn't ditched Unagiya and her bratty kid, Ichigo might not have even come across this. If that had happened, then would Ishida have been able to get help? Would the others have sensed that he was hurt?

"Hey, Ishida!" Ichigo cried, already crouched down at his friend's side. "What the hell happened to you!?"

With some help from Ichigo, Ishida rolled over onto his back to reveal the bloodied scrap of cloth covering the stump where his forearm and hand was supposed to be. Ichigo recoiled, his gaze snapping around to scan the area for any potential threats.

"Don't bother," Ishida groaned. "Whoever did this is either hiding or long gone. You wouldn't be able to sense them either way."

Of course. Ichigo should have known that. Some habits were just too hard to break, though. Especially with the amount of adrenaline that was coursing through his system.

"Don't try to stand up," Ichigo barked, whipping out his cell phone and thumbing the keypad erratically. "Keep your arm elevated so you don't bleed much more than you already have. I'll get Inoue and…"

"No!"

"What do you mean _no!?_ I don't know if you've noticed this yet or not, but you're _missing your fucking arm!_ "

"And if someone were trying to lure her out and attack her, then getting her to come after an injured friend would be the easiest way to do it!"

"Ishida, are you really going to stake your arm on whether or not someone is using you to go after Inoue!? Wouldn't it be easier to attack her outside the school or wait for her to leave her house? How does using you as bait even make any sense!?"

"Are you going to make me explain my reasoning to you, or are you going to call an ambulance!?" Ishida screamed, obviously not having any of it. "Like it or not, you lost the right to call the shots when you gave up your powers! Do whatever you want, just don't call her!"

Ichigo scoffed, deleting the half-dialed number and instead calling emergency services. Once Ishida was stable and in a hospital, he'd be a lot more amicable. Especially if they had him so hopped up on painkillers that he couldn't protest to her showing up.

"Whatever," Ichigo scoffed. "Just don't die on me, all right?"

"Wasn't planning on it." Ishida murmured.

This was ridiculous. After beating Aizen, things were supposed to be safe. His friends were supposed to be able to defend themselves from Hollows. They weren't supposed to run around getting their arms chopped off. Karin wasn't supposed to be talking to Urahara about Shinigami either, for that matter.

There was a storm coming. If that hadn't been apparent before, then Ichigo clearly couldn't ignore the signals now. And even if he wanted to do something, he wasn't exactly in a position to get into a fight with something he wouldn't be able to see.

What the hell had he even given up his powers for in the first place if it hadn't changed a damn thing?

The wait for the ambulance was long. Had it always been that long? If this had been two years ago, Ichigo would have the response time unconsciously memorized. However long it took, Ichigo wasn't able to breathe easy until he heard the sirens from around the corner. The paramedics were quick to load him into the back of the car, and Ichigo was just as quick to get the address of the hospital they were taking him to before taking off in a full sprint while dialing Inoue.

Still, what Ishida had said bothered him. No, it was more like this whole situation was bothering him. Knowing that there was a threat still looming out there that he couldn't do anything about really rubbed him the wrong way.

At the very least, he could make sure that Inoue was able to get that arm re-attached.

* * *

"Kurosaki-kun! I'm here!"

Ichigo's head whipped up, ripping his gaze away from his tightly clasped hands. He'd already gotten Ishida's room number and sent it to Inoue. From what he'd heard, Ishida hadn't gone into surgery yet. That was either a very good or a very bad thing. There wasn't any in-between.

"Follow me."

Ichigo stood, turning his back to the girl and walking as fast as common courtesy would allow him. There wasn't time to wait for an elevator, especially not when anyone with some crummy cold could get in the way and delay them any more than Ishida already had with his paranoid demands.

Even if Ichigo had lacked the presence of mind to track which floor he was on, Ishida was on the top floor of the hospital. There wasn't much further to climb unless he wanted to get to the ceiling. Still, that must have been at least a dozen flights of stairs. He was breathing hard, and there was no doubt that Inoue was in worse shape than he was.

Getting this high up would have been no problem with powers. Keeping Ishida and Inoue safe while she treated his wounds on the side of the road would have been no problem with powers.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Ichigo slid to a halt in front of the tall, white-haired man that stood between him and the corridor that Ishida's room was in. Really? Another delay? Ichigo didn't know how many times he'd said this, but there wasn't any _time_ for this!

"Kurosaki-kun!"

Inoue rounded the corner, red in the face and panting. It didn't take long after that for her to realize the situation, straightening her posture and clearing her throat.

"Um, you're Ishida-kun's father, right?"

"Yes," Ryuuken replied, adjusting his glasses as his gaze moved to Orihime. "And judging by your presence here, I can only assume that you're here to try your hand at fixing my foolish son's mistake."

"Yeah!" Ichigo cut in. "So get out of the way!"

Ichigo wasn't entirely familiar with Ishida's father, but he knew by the way Ishida regarded him that the relationship wasn't a good one. If anything, Ishida hated his father. Ichigo hoped that this interaction wouldn't be the one that showed him why.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Ryuuken glowered. "That idiot has gone and gotten his arm cut off by something that's altered the state of his muscle, veins, and capillaries on one side, making surgical reattachment an impossibility. Further, the reiatsu around the wound is behaving like that of a Hollow's, making it impossible to undo the damage with any Quincy technique. The only things left in this world that may be able to undo the damage are either Shinigami or Hollow in nature, something that I refuse to allow."

Again, Ichigo moved without thought. His hands shot up, gripping Ryuuken by the lapels and hoisting him into the air, thrusting him into the wall behind him with a roar.

"So your son is laying there without an arm and you're just gonna shrug and do nothing about it!?"

"I believe I've already told you I've done everything I can allow," Ryuuken replied, unphased by Ichigo's attack. "That boy has been meddling in Shinigami affairs in spite of an agreement we reached. I've told him time and again that behaving the way he has would come back to bite him. As far as I'm confirmed, this is his penance for letting his guard down around a lowly _Hollow._ "

Ryuuken spat the word like it was poison, and although Ichigo understood why it still stirred something in him. He'd been healed by Hollows, and he didn't think he'd turn down Nel's help if she was the one saying she could heal Ishida. Still, Inoue wasn't a Shinigami. Would that make a difference?

"But Inoue isn't…"

"Isn't what? A Shinigami? A Hollow? Do you know nothing about her powers at all?" Ryuuken scowled, gripping Ichigo's right hand with his left.

White hot pain shot through Ichigo's arm, and in that moment he lost his grip on the man. Whatever had happened, he couldn't feel anything past his elbow. Damn Quincies.

"I won't ask again," Ryuuken sighed, straightening his tie and fixing his glasses now that he had both feet firmly on the ground again. "Leave."

"Go, Inoue," Ichigo barked, diving in low and coming towards Ryuuken with a left-handed uppercut. "Do what you do. I'll distract him!"

With a nod, Inoue took off sprinting again towards the open corridor, not staying to watch Ryuuken easily dodge out of the way of Ichigo's attack.

"Distract me? What can you hope to do, Kurosaki Ichigo?"

Ryuuken threw a kick that landed squarely in Ichigo's chest, sending the orange haired boy stumbling back and landing flat on his rear. With distance between them, Ryuuken struck a pose that Ichigo easily recognized even without being able to see the bow in his hand.

"You're just an insignificant boy without even a hint of reiatsu to speak of. You cannot stop me."

"Maybe not," Ichigo grunted, standing up. "But I don't have to."

Ryuuken turned his head, seeing that Inoue had already vanished into his son's room. And what's more, her reiatsu had formed some sort of shell around the door. She was more versatile with that pesky ability of hers than he'd anticipated.

"If I know Inoue, she'll keep you out of that room until the job's done," Ichigo seethed. "And even if you're an insufferable bastard, I don't think you're going to cut your own kid's arm off out of spite any time soon."

Ichigo turned his back to Ryuuken, skulking back down the hallway he'd come from and slapping the button on the elevator. Unlike five minutes ago, he was in no mood to take the stairs now. Boarding the lift, Ichigo leaned back against the wall and let the doors close behind him before his descent to the ground began.

An insignificant boy without a hint of reiatsu, huh? Well, at least it was an apt description. Still, the anger that boiled in his stomach at the thought of the words sent his now fully recovered fist crashing into the sliding door in front of him, pain radiating through it anew even as he dented the metal inwards.

With his other hand, Ichigo fished his phone out of his pocket as well as the business card that other prick Ginjo had made him take after showing up at his job. This guy was making an offer that no one else could, and regardless of how shady it was, there were some risks Ichigo just had to take. He'd just have to use Ginjo just like he'd used Shinji the year before last.

Xcution could bite him. He just wanted his damn powers back already.

* * *

 _Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you in the next chapter._


	4. Expectation of Uselessness

_Hey everyone,_

 _This is the chapter where we break away from first person point of view and delve into the third person. It's a bit weird, yes, but I personally feel more confident using third person perspective after establishing the personalities and voices for inner dialogues of characters that get the most focus. Call it a stylistic choice._

 _As always, I hope you enjoy the read._

 ** _Updated: 3/19/17_**

* * *

"You're going to have to do much better than that, Kurosaki-san!"

Urahara's amused voice resounded throughout the training area, but Karin just barely registered it. She only had one thought running through her mind in the face of Jinta's assault – 'dodge!'

Jinta may have been a punk, but he was an immensely strong one. It wasn't just that he possessed the power to shake the earth beneath him with every punch, but his speed was what really impressed Karin. She could hardly keep her eyes on him as he darted around, and he had the most annoying habit of rushing her blind spot. Even relying on her ears, she was hard pressed to keep moving out of the way of his hits.

A rush of air hit her from the side, and her eyes flashed to her flank just in time to see Jinta winding up for another devastating haymaker. Karin jumped back, narrowly avoiding the attack to her head as the displaced air from Jinta's fist blew her hair back and forced her eyes to shut tight.

 _'He's strong,'_ she thought _. 'And he's too fast to move around or catch. I'm at a complete disadvantage here.'_

"What the hell has your head in the clouds, Kurosaki!? Fight back!"

Jinta was suddenly in front of her. With his fist cocked back and level with his head, Karin knew that she'd be out cold or worse if she let him make contact. She panicked, jumping back again to avoid taking the hit, but in doing so she'd forgotten to pay attention to her environment. More specifically, she hadn't realized that she had one more disadvantage in this fight than her lack of speed or strength. She was tied to something.

Her foot caught against her Chain of Fate as she slid, and that sent her stumbling backward with her arms flying about at her sides. She'd lost her balance, and the only way to quickly recover it would be to jump up again. Of course, she'd left a huge opening while doing so.

She barely had enough time to see Jinta's wicked grin before he'd moved to plant his fist in her stomach.

Even though Karin had earned her fair share of bumps and bruises in soccer before, a blow to the gut from Jinta was on a wholly different level of intensity. It felt less like a fist and more like a cannonball – a cannonball that had miraculously not blown right through her entire torso.

Karin staggered, bending over and clutching her stomach as she gasped for air. The area of impact had been her diaphragm – whatever the spirit equivalent of that was. Breathing had become a struggle; it was like someone had blocked her lungs with a suction cup, and every failed attempt only increased the pressure clamping down on her.

"Come on. Pick yourself up and try again. If you can't even pass the test, then there's no way you have what it takes to be a Shinigami."

"And what the hell am I supposed to do against a freak like you!?" she spat back. Since when was she even being tested?

"Easy. Land a hit," Jinta responded with a deadpan expression; like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then, his face shifted once again to that cocky grin. "If you even can, that is. Come on. If I was fighting your brother, even if he was still as weak as he is now he'd have managed to do that much."

 _'What?'_ Karin thought. She didn't have much time for that, though. Jinta was back on the offensive right after his last statement, and Karin had to stay on her toes. _'That's not possible. Even if Ichi-nii is a lot stronger than I am, he's just a regular guy. There's no way he'd be strong enough to keep up with someone like Jinta.'_

"I can see that disbelief on your face, Kurosaki. You don't really think your brother became so helpless after he lost his power, do you? Newsflash – your brother was the king of underdog fights. You think he busted into Soul Society and just walked out without a scratch on him? You think he took on Aizen without getting roughed up a bit? What a joke. He sucked, but at least he knew how to throw a punch. Can't say the same about you."

Karin seethed. So what if Ichigo was stronger than her? So what if he was the 'king of underdog fights?' He was still her brother, and she wasn't just going to stand around and let Jinta talk bad about him. Her fist clenched tighter at her side, and she bared her teeth in a frustrated huff.

"Fine! You want an attack? I'll give you one!" Karin yelled, her feet digging into the ground before propelling her forward as fast as they could. Her feet were pounding against the floor. She felt like she was flying, but she knew she was still nowhere as fast as Jinta.

And Jinta knew she wasn't anywhere near as fast as he was, too. That's why when he suddenly vanished from her sight, she knew just where to look. Above.

An attack from behind or the side would have been pointless. Karin was moving, so she'd have naturally gotten out of the way of anything coming from that angle. Unless he put himself where she'd run right into him, that is. The only place he could do that without her seeing him was for him to come down on her just like he had at the start of the fight.

"Found you!" Karin cried. She whipped her head up and made eye contact with the descending boy. He seemed surprised at her quick deduction, and that was the moment of distraction she was looking for.

Pooling all her strength into her legs – the legs that she took pride in on the soccer field – Karin leaped as high as she could into the air. Her fist flew towards Jinta's jaw, and she was just about to make contact when something unexpected happened.

Jinta stopped falling, and Karin's descent had never started. Instead, he had her by the wrist at the height of her jump. She was practically helpless.

"You really are an idiot, aren't you? The kind of idiot who can't even make a foothold out of reishi!"

The redhead had caught her by the wrist and seemed to have no problem supporting her weight. She was hanging two feet off the ground and was in no position to even think about throwing another attack.

Panic spread across her face, and she mentally cursed herself for getting so worked up. This was the worst possible outcome. An outcome she'd been too stupid to think of. She shouldn't have gotten that mad in the first place.

"You know, I never thought you stood a chance of helping your dumbass of a brother out. Even if you did get power, it'd be measly enough that he'd probably just get more depressed by how weak he still was when you gave it to him," Jinta mocked. "In fact, I think we're done here. Why don't you head home and tell Ichigo just how useless you really are?"

With that, Jinta tossed Karin up into the air. She arched slightly, and as she came back down, he threw a devastating round kick directly at her chest. He sent her flying across the room and crashing into the wall on the other side. She hit the floor head first.

As she blacked out, she couldn't get that word out of her head. Useless.

Well, if the shoe fit…

* * *

In the days following Aizen's defeat, the only place that wasn't quiet in Karakura town was the Kurosaki clinic. It wasn't that uncommon for the small business to be crowded after a disaster; the hospital proper filled up with patients rather quickly and the overflow had to go somewhere. But this wasn't the kind of post-disaster rush that Karin had grown accustomed to in her eleven years of life.

Right now, the clinic only had one patient. Her brother.

Her father had told her the exact process they could expect. He'd start losing the hair that he'd grown out while he'd been away, and his vitals would fluctuate between stable and near-crisis level every now and again while his soul tried to adjust to losing all of its power. Still, he always wound up okay. That wasn't what bothered her.

The thing that really made Karin worry for Ichigo – that made all of them worry for him – was the screaming.

Isshin had said that a consequence of Ichigo losing his power would be waves of intense pain while he slept. While none of them were quite sure what that meant, they quickly realized it was nothing good when their friend and brother began howling in pain in the middle of what should have been his coma.

The worst part of the screaming? He never woke up. He never even opened his eyes. He'd just suddenly clutch his chest or shoulders and convulse while roaring to the heavens. The bouts would go on for what felt like forever to them. Sometimes more.

From the start – as much as Karin hated to admit it – Rukia had taken the lead in Ichigo's care.

Orihime had tried at first, but that had ended…badly was the nicest choice of words.

There were only two of Ichigo's flares that Karin remembered well, and the first of those had been brought on by Orihime's Rikka. It was a novel idea: If she could reject the effects of whatever Ichigo had done to lose his power, he would wake up and not have lost an ounce of it. The potency of her Rikka was directly tied to her will. The stronger she wanted something, the stronger they became. Unfortunately, even her power seemed to have rules.

Urahara had explained it after her plan had failed. His exact words had escaped Karin then, but it was something about how Orihime's ability to reject could not undo something as permanent and powerful as the effects of the Final Getsuga Tensho - a name she soon associated with the reason Ichigo lost his power. It wasn't a technique to be trifled with.

Ichigo's initial reaction to her attempt had been immediately noticeable. Though he didn't cry out, his body began to seize. His jaw was clenched tight, and every muscle in his body tensed up. Even though Orihime had stopped as soon as she'd realized she wasn't helping, that didn't spare any of them the aftereffects.

It was the loudest they'd ever heard him scream. Even louder than the most dramatic of his flares. And still, Ichigo's voice cried out in an anguish that seemed to shake the walls of the small clinic. Karin couldn't particularly feel anything, but all of Ichigo's friends stood on shaking legs. Whatever reiryoku he'd regained had expelled itself en masse. Apparently, he'd gotten back a lot.

Orihime had collapsed about ten minutes into it. Tears were streaming down her face as she backed into a corner and shook her head. Karin remembered doubting that the way the girl covered her ears was any help in muffling her brother's cries.

It had taken mere seconds for Rukia to seize control of the situation. Before Karin could even rip her gaze off her older brother, Rukia had gone to the orange haired girl in the corner and had helped her to her feet. Through the hysterical apologies and begging for forgiveness, Rukia had ushered Orihime out of the clinic and returned not even a minute later with a towel and a bowl of iced water in her hands.

She pulled the chair from Ichigo's desk over to his bedside, and nimble hands soaked the cloth before wringing it strongly and placing it on Ichigo's head. She'd stayed there for the next hour, gently stroking Ichigo's hair as his shouts died down into groans and the thrashing had all but stopped as well.

By that point, it had been late into the evening. Things had finally settled enough that everyone had decided it best to let Ichigo rest. They'd all gone to bed soon afterward.

It was that display of strength that firmly embedded a deep sense of respect for the Kuchiki girl in Karin's mind. Rukia had been calm in the face of danger, kind to those who could not understand it, and perhaps most importantly she'd been there for Ichigo when he needed it the most. It was no wonder that Isshin continually referred to her as his third daughter.

But Karin wouldn't find out just how much strength Rukia had until the worst of the flares – the second in her memory in order only. It had been the longest of them all, and it occurred only a few days before he finally woke up.

Karin remembered that day the most vividly, but not for the reason anyone would think if they knew that.

They'd all been there that day. Sado, Orihime, Uryuu, Renji, and of course Rukia. There was never a day she wasn't there during Ichigo's coma. The only time she left was when a Hollow showed up, and even then she always made sure someone was watching him while she was out. At that time, Karin's admiration for her had only been growing.

No one knew exactly why it happened, but about ten minutes after Rukia had stepped out Ichigo had begun to convulse. It was nothing new to any of them, so they'd just gone about their business trying to pretend nothing had been happening. Secure his arms and legs, make sure he doesn't hit his head against everything, and pray it all ended soon. It was that easy.

At least they had until the gurgling started.

Karin had grown up in the clinic, and as much as she'd like to say otherwise she knew what a dying person sounded like. Saliva and bronchial fluid eventually built up in their throats, which blocked the airway, which made breathing enough of a chore that the action became a violent one, which led to that specific sound. The sound that she'd never thought Ichigo was capable of making until now.

Some people called it the death rattle.

The atmosphere had changed sharply. Karin, Yuzu, and Uryuu had all known what that sound meant. In an instant they'd all rushed to Ichigo's side. Uryuu had been quick to grab an intubator, and Karin and Yuzu had known exactly how prep for that went.

They were prepared to force Ichigo to breathe. What they weren't prepared for was Rukia deciding to come back at that moment.

She'd been confused at first – torn between trying to keep calm long enough to figure out exactly what was going on and panicking with the rest of them in their attempts to aid Ichigo. The intubator had been a good first idea, but with that much screaming, there was absolutely no way to get him to calm down enough to actually perform the procedure.

That was the scene Rukia had come back to.

"What's the matter? Why is he doing that!?" she'd said with wide eyes that barely masked her horror.

"He can't breathe," Uryuu had responded. "And with the shaking and the screaming it's not like we can help him in that regard. We'd do more damage. Forcing anything would probably rip his throat open even more than it already is."

Rukia went quiet after that. She knew she couldn't try kido - not after the reaction he'd had from Orihime's treatment. She also knew that a bowl of water and a towel wouldn't be enough to fix things this time.

"The best thing we can do is try to get him to drink something," Uryuu sighed. "Maybe water will loosen up whatever's in there."

That much Rukia could work with.

Somehow, by some miracle, they'd gotten Ichigo to swallow enough water to clear his throat. Whatever had been built up in there – blood from all the screaming, maybe? – had found its way out. It was a moment of calm for everyone. Even Orihime, who still seemed torn up by every little thing that was happening to Ichigo, had breathed a sigh of relief when the regular screams had picked up again.

Rukia had once again refused to leave his side even after the flare had subsided. She sat there dutifully with her cold washcloth and bowl of iced water, gently running her fingers through Ichigo's hair.

They'd long since recognized the pattern of Ichigo's flares coinciding with sunsets and rainstorms. It was something that Sado had pointed out, actually. He was the type to notice those sorts of things, so it had made sense to Karin at least. Plus, she knew her brother had always hated the rain.

It was long after dark when Karin had gone back downstairs to grab a glass of water from the kitchen. She'd refused to drink from the bathroom sink since she was a toddler, and the habit had stuck to this day. She almost ghosted right past Ichigo's room on the way down the stairs, but something had caught her eye.

Rukia was still sitting at Ichigo's bedside. The bowl of water and cloth had long since emptied and dried out, but the dark haired Shinigami still sat with her fingers in Ichigo's hair. She'd been whispering at the time, but Karin had heard every word.

"I can't keep this up forever, you idiot," she'd began.

"Keeping a straight face and watching you suffer is the last thing I've ever wanted to do. And yet it seems like it's the only thing I'm any good for. I don't understand human medicine like Ishida or your family. I can't heal you with kido. I can't even try to speed up the process like Urahara's been working on."

Karin's eyes had adjusted to the dark of Ichigo's room, and she swore she could see Rukia crying. It was a nearly incomprehensible thing. Rukia Kuchiki was strong in the face of danger and pain. She dealt with situations objectively and with kind grace. She wasn't the type to cry or feel hopeless or talk to Ichigo when she knew he couldn't respond to her.

"I've never asked for much. I never even asked you to save me back at the start of this whole mess. But please, Ichigo. Please, just wake up soon. I'm useless to you when you're asleep. I can't stand it!"

Her fist had balled up the chest of Ichigo's shirt tightly. She was trembling, and if the tears weren't noticeable before, they certainly were now. Karin felt slightly guilty stumbling upon a moment like that.

Until, for the first time outside of a flare, Ichigo moved.

His hand had come up to rest on his chest, covering Rukia's and gripping it ever so lightly. It was barely audible – even less so than Rukia's whispers – but Karin trusted her ears when she heard Ichigo mumble one word.

"Rukia."

The rest of the night had been a blur. Karin stood stock still for a moment before…before something. She didn't know. All she knew was that she was back in her room and under the covers. She hadn't wanted to think about that moment.

And now, seventeen months later, useless still didn't feel like much of an insult. Not when Rukia had given that label to herself and was able to do so much for Ichigo with so little. Of course, now that Rukia was gone there wasn't anyone left to fill in the gaps she left.

But maybe if Ichigo could get his power back, he'd close those gaps himself.

And maybe Karin had just enough strength left to stand up one more time.

* * *

"Now Jinta, what did I tell you about going past ten percent in this fight?" Urahara chided, smacking the boy on the top of the head with his folding fan.

"Boss, she wasn't getting anywhere! It's obvious she's not going to be a lick 'a help in the plan," Jinta retorted, only slightly miffed at the treatment. "Besides, if she can't handle one kick at twenty, she doesn't stand a chance of becoming a Shinigami."

Urahara sighed, bringing the fan back up to cover his mouth and closing his eyes. "Well, I suppose you're right. Maybe when she wakes up, she'll hop back in her body and go home. Kurosaki-san didn't want his sister tied up in any of this to begin with, so perhaps it's for the best that she failed."

"Oi."

Like a sudden downpour, reiatsu came down across the whole training ground. Jinta shivered, and Urahara turned with an eyebrow quirked. His hand went to his face quickly, masking whatever expressing rested behind his cold, analytical gaze with the fan.

"Who the hell failed? I've still got fight left in me."

Karin had stood, and although she look weak in the knees there was still an enormous amount of power wafting off of her. Her eyes were sharp, focused in heavily on Jinta in a way that reminded Urahara of Ichigo's training almost too much.

"Actually," she continued, righting herself and cracking her knuckles. "That last kick must have shaken something loose, because I'm feeling pretty _damn_ good all of a sudden."

Despite scuffed clothes and a stream of blood coming from her mouth, Karin's confidence radiated from her face. Something was different. The reiatsu coming off of her was…well, it wasn't crushing, but it was more than she should have been able to produce after just a few hours of training. Getting up again after taking that bad of a beat-down wasn't something you'd expect from someone.

But, Urahara thought, Karin wasn't just someone. She was a Kurosaki. This wasn't entirely out of his expectations.

"So," she continued, "you stay right there and let me clobber you, brat!"

She'd moved before Jinta could even think about the possibility of her attacking, and her fist buried itself into the boy's face. Karin grinned at the feeling of his skin and muscles compressing and falling back in response to the contact she'd made, and as Jinta went stumbling back as a result she disappeared again in another burst of speed.

The red haired boy scowled, his eyes flickering to catch her and failing to identify the source of the reiatsu that currently bathed the area. He also hadn't expected her to go low, and when she grabbed onto her target by the ankle he wasn't prepared to save himself.

The way she'd hoisted him into the air was supposed to be impossible at this stage of her training, but that didn't' change the fact that he was soaring in the air and only connected to the ground through Karin's hold on him. At least he had enough time to react before she slammed him into the dirt.

Catching himself and kicking off of her, Jinta hopped back. A scrap of paper was yanked from his pocket, and a large, spiked metal bat materialized in his hands a second later. He was livid. His eyebrows were furrowed deeply and his lips were curled into a seething snarl. This girl had always driven him crazy, and now she was one-upping him too.

"Don't screw around with me, Kurosaki!"

Jinta jumped forward, bringing the bat down over his head and right towards Karin. She dodged to the side, just barely avoiding the strike as she brought her open palm down on top of the weapon and further empowered the downward strike. The soaring debris were evidence of how strongly rooted the weapon would be in the ground now.

"Same to you!" Karin cried back, bringing her other hand up over her head and smashing into the bat with a powerful, hammering strike. With a pulse of energy Karin didn't even know she was controlling, the bat cracked and shattered at its base.

Surprise painting his features, Jinta raced away from the girl in order to buy himself time. Whatever it was for, she wouldn't let him have it.

Karin had grabbed one of the shards of the destroyed bat from the ground, and with murderous intent in her eyes, she launched herself forward in an attempt to gouge out the boy's chest with her new makeshift weapon.

Or she would have if Ururu hadn't appeared to the side of her and chopped down sharply on Karin's neck with her bare hand. Karin, shocked by Ururu's sudden intervention, had no means of preparing or defending herself for the attack.

The effect was immediate. Karin's knees buckled and her eyes went out of focus. She fell to the ground, dropping the shard in the process. Her legs gave out, and then she hit her knees before falling over in a daze while whatever power she'd taken hold of fizzled out.

"Jinta," Ururu said in her usual monotone, "please don't underestimate your opponent. It gets you into situations like this all the time."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. She got the drop on me, so lay off," the boy replied, looking in the exact opposite direction of his sister.

Urahara couldn't help but look intrigued. He hadn't expected much from this test, but he did enjoy a good surprise every now and again. To think he was short-sighted enough to assume all the power of the Kurosaki children resided in the oldest.

"My, my. It looks like you had something buried underneath after all, Kurosaki-san," he said. Slow footsteps took him over to the girl's unconscious body.

"Let's see just what we can do with that, shall we?

* * *

 _Feel free to leave a review and tell me what you think so far. Again, I'm always looking to improve my writing._


	5. Kuchiki-Fukutaicho

_Hey everyone,_

 _Here we get a peek at what Rukia's been up to during Ichigo's stint of bitter loneliness. I think I like how this chapter turned out more than the others up to this point, so I do hope you enjoy it._

 **Updated: 3/19/17  
**

* * *

In the seventeen months since the end of the Winter War, the Gotei Thirteen had been busier than ever. That wasn't all that surprising, given how Hueco Mundo's natural order had been interrupted. In the world of Hollows, survival of the fittest was the one absolute law. When Aizen and the Espada had fallen from power, a new group had to rise to take on the role of leadership.

That was the thing about survival of the fittest, though. It was chaos. Hollows had descended over every part of the World of the Living looking for souls to feed on and grow in strength. That strength would in turn be used to contend for power, and that power would be used to subjugate weaker Hollows in an attempt to gather more strength.

That primal desire for power is what fueled the creation of the Menos – amalgamations of dozens if not hundreds of Hollows. Those Menos would grow stronger, and over time learn to condense and compress their power into smaller, tighter, more efficient forms. Once that happened, one personality usually became dominant. The mind of the strongest Hollow would command the bodies and powers of hundreds and would be known as an Adjuchas from that point onwards. As that form stabilized and grew in power, and as the mind in command of the body became more and more human, a Vastro Lorde came into being.

Death was inevitably the center of this cycle; the focus point for all Hollows when it came to attaining power. Now that there was no fixed leader within Hueco Mundo, that lust for power had grown stronger than ever among all of them. Attacks in World of the Living shot through the roof, seated officers frequently took extended missions out to quell what they could in place of the lesser-prepared, unranked corps. The Gotei Thirteen was scrambling to keep up, honestly.

And through all of that, Rukia had been on the front lines everywhere that her Captain would make room for her. Everywhere except Karakura Town, that is.

Today was the second day she'd been back. An extended mission to Osaka had kept her busy the past three weeks. Truthfully, she was just happy to have been sent out at all. She'd hardly ever received missions to particularly troubled areas in the past, so knowing that she was now able to stand alongside her high-ranking comrades was more than enough to make the hard work worth it.

"Yo! Rukia!"

Purple eyes turned to catch the sight of bright red hair as it weaved its way through the crowded streets of the Seireitei. It was just past six, and the dinner rush was on its way out of full swing.

 _'Only one person that could be,'_ Rukia thought.

"Renji!" she called back, waiting until her old friend had made his way over to her.

"So you finally found your way back. I was afraid you'd gone and gotten your power stolen by some punk again," he joked.

A wry grin played on her face, and mischief danced in her eyes. "And if I had, whoever managed to take them would probably end up kicking your ass, too. I have a knack for producing prodigies like that, you know."

Renji's face went serious for a second, and a low growl came from his throat. Rukia was fine with that, of course. If he was going to push her buttons, she'd push his right back.

A pause, and then Renji's chuckle told her that everything was all right. Neither side's words had cut too deep, but the game of back and forth would probably be abandoned.

"Say, I just got back from a meeting with Kuchiki-taichou. Seems he's looking to meet with you about something. He told me to go grab you and have you head over to your squad's barracks."

"Thirteenth squad's? Why would Nii-sama want me to go there to meet him?" Rukia asked. Mild concern was painted on her face. The uncommon and unexpected were hardly ever good things in her experience. There'd really only ever been one exception to that rule.

"Hell if I know. I'm just the messenger. Look, I've gotta go meet up with Hisagi and Matsumoto. We've got plans for tonight – you've got a seat down at the bar if you need one. I'll catch you around."

With that, Renji took off with a gait Rukia would call slightly more hurried than normal. Maybe he was just looking forward to the bender that he had planned with his other friends, or maybe – just maybe – he was trying to hide something. She'd known Renji since he was a kid, and he was never too good at telling lies. Still, he hadn't acted too suspicious.

"Probably just eager to go get drunk," Rukia mumbled.

The walk to her barracks was one of the slowest she'd ever had. It wasn't enough that her head kept jumping from one worst-case scenario to the next, but she also had to start trying to debate with herself.

Was she going to be demoted? Demoted to what? She was already an unranked officer; the worst they could do was put her on probation for some shortcoming or another. But what? She'd turned in her mission report earlier today, and it wasn't supposed to be done until the end of the week. She had taken a little extra time on this mission, but it had been a slow hunt.

Did Byakuya want her to transfer to Sixth Division? Why would he want that change made so suddenly? Did he want to keep a closer eye on her than he had in the past? Did he plan to keep her in the Seireitei as much as possible? That would be a curse in and of itself.

What would Ichigo do?

Her feet stuck to the ground, refusing to move at that thought. How long had it been since she'd last let herself dwell on that orange haired fool? A day? Two?

 _'Far too long.'_

If it were Ichigo, he'd go through hell or high water to accomplish anything he felt compelled to. He'd risk anything and everything to take a stand against obstacles that presented themselves to him. That's what she'd taught him to do; what he'd wanted to do ever since she'd first met him.

 _'I wonder…has he changed much in a world without us in it?'_

Of course he had. Ichigo was no longer a Shinigami. He had no need for brazen courage or pained and resigned eyes. He could live life like a normal human, age like a normal human, die like a normal human, and at the end of it all he could pick up his sword again. He could go to the academy and graduate with flying colors. He could become a Captain – probably of squad eleven after Kenpachi-taichou finally managed to bite off more than he could chew in a fight – and he could go into the afterlife knowing he'd lived his first life to the fullest.

Rukia sighed, abandoning that train of thought. That future was still a long way off, and getting her head lost in the clouds wasn't going to help her in her daily affairs. Besides, she couldn't keep her elder brother waiting.

Picking her feet back up, Rukia marched with renewed purpose towards the Thirteenth Division.

* * *

It was uncommon, though not particularly rare, for the captain of one squad to make their way to the barracks of another. There were some basic examples – Captain Kyoraku and Captain Ukitake were close friends and had been ever since they were trained by Head Captain Yamamoto, and they often met in one barracks or another to discuss current affairs. Still, seeing Byakuya sitting on his knees at the tea table with Ukitake was a sight that Rukia rarely ever saw.

"Ah, Rukia. I was wondering when you were going to arrive. We must have sent Renji for you nearly half an hour ago."

Byakuya, who had been sipping from the cylindrical clay cup, lowered his beverage before looking over to the white haired captain.

"It's no fault of hers. My lieutenant's habitual incompetence is to blame, I'm sure," he said in his usual level tone.

"Now, now," Ukitake replied, smiling with closed eyes, "I'm sure Abarai-kun found her as quickly as he could. Besides, it's not like the matters we have to discuss are too terribly pressing. There will be plenty of time to take care of everything."

Silently, Byakuya reflected on the words before giving a small nod. "Very well. Rukia."

"Y-yes, Nii-sama?"

Rukia was completely off her game. Maybe it was the fact that Byakuya had been so quick to defend her while having Renji shoulder all the blame for her apparent lateness. She had to admit that was true; she'd come here as quickly as she could, save for the momentary pause she'd made in her walk. If she was late, it was because Renji didn't find her quickly enough.

"Come and sit," Byakuya said with a beckoning wave of his hand. "Your captain and I have something we wish to discuss with you."

"Of course," Rukia replied, somewhat surprised that she'd been invited to sit. "What is it you want to talk about?"

"We know you've filed a report already, but we'd like you to tell us about your recent mission to the World of the Living. We sent you to…Osaka, was it?" Ukitake began, a slight smile on his face. Rukia took a bit of comfort in that. Ukitake wasn't one to fake an expression to make a situation easier for someone. He liked his subordinates to know exactly what was going on. If he was smiling, nothing bad could be happening.

"Yes. A place called Tajiri, to be exact. There was a particularly strong Hollow that had yet to be purified there, and I was tasked with hunting it down and doing the deed," Rukia replied almost automatically. She'd gone over the mission a thousand times in her head while in the small seaside town.

"And were there any complications? The last person I sent out after that Hollow came back with a missing arm, so naturally I was a little worried. Thankfully, the damage wasn't too severe. Unohana-taichou was able to grow the limb back with just a little help from Kurotsuchi-taichou."

Byakuya seemed to focus in on Ukitake with that statement. Was that anger she saw in his eyes?

"You failed to mention that when I agreed to letting Rukia go out on this mission," he said with a glare.

"Oh? Must have slipped my mind," Ukitake replied with a sly smile. "So, Rukia, please tell us about how your mission went."

"Well," Rukia began, looking back and forth between her brother and her captain. She wasn't sure what to make of this. "In all honesty, it wasn't much of an event. The Hollow was smarter than what I'd expected. It made itself scarce from the moment I entered the World of the Living. Eventually, its hunger overcame its caution. I tracked it down to a graveyard, where I believe it was trying to feast on the souls of demi-Hollows."

"Ah. A war of attrition. It was smart of you to wait," Ukitake broke in.

"The wise fighter allows his enemy to become weak before striking. A sound choice indeed," Byakuya confirmed with a nod.

A slight flush tinged Rukia's cheeks. She wasn't exactly used to simultaneous praise from two of the major figures of authority in her life. Still, she carried on.

"Yes, well, after I lured it out, we engaged in combat. While I was taken off-guard by its ability to move the earth both around and beneath it, I adapted quickly. When it tried to open up a pitfall, I froze the air with Sode no Shirayuki. Utilizing the ice pillars I can create with Tsukishiro, I maneuvered around the creature and dealt a finishing blow."

"And you sustained no injuries?" Ukitake asked.

"No, Ukitake-taichou."

"Excellent," the white haired man said with a smile. "So, Kuchiki-taichou, what do you think? Is she ready?"

Ready? Ready for what?

"I believe our agreement was that if she came back successful in her mission that you would have the final say. If you're seeking my approval before making judgement, then it simply means that you lack confidence in her," Byakuya replied.

"Oh? And can I take that to mean you have no objections?"

"Excuse me," Rukia said. "But what exactly is it you want to know if I'm ready for?"

The two men fell silent, their gazes going to her before shifting back to one another. With the slightest of nods, Byakuya seemed to give his approval. Rukia was still unsure what all this meant.

Ukitake produced a small box from his haori and placed it on the table. Emblazoned on the top of the wooden container was the symbol of the Thirteenth division, and suddenly something clicked inside Rukia's head.

"You know, the officer that I told you about just now wasn't your typical member of the squad. They were our Fourth Seat," Ukitake began.

Rukia's eyes were wide. That Hollow had taken out the Fourth Seat of her squad? It hadn't seemed like anything special, though.

"And I was just about to pass the mission on to Eleventh Squad when Kuchiki-taichou came to ask me about how you were doing, as well as if I had any plans for your promotion. You've been an unseated officer for so long, you see. The fact that you engaged five high-ranking Arrancar, three of them Espada, in battle during the Winter War demanded recognition, and this was what you might call your final exam."

"In the past, I had restricted you from promotion to protect you," Byakuya added. "I have since come to realize that this may have been short sighted on my part. You have indeed become strong, Rukia."

Rukia was shaking her head. "Please, I can't accept this. It's…it's too much. Too soon."

"Nonsense, Rukia," Ukitake countered, the kind smile still playing on his lips. "We of the Thirteenth Division have been without a Lieutenant for far too long, and there is no one I would rather have; no one else that our former Lieutenant would allow, truth be told."

Ukitake opened the box, revealing the Lieutenant's badge attached to a white cloth that for so long had been absent from the Seireitei. Like a bad memory, Ukitake had locked it away.

"Sentaro and Kiyone will simply have to return to their former positions and share Third Seat again. We don't need two people to pull joint Lieutenant duty when we have a perfectly capable candidate right in front of us."

"I…" Rukia started. Could she really do this? It was true that she'd fought many enemies in Hueco Mundo, but that had been when she was alongside Ichigo and the others and in near direct violation of orders. And more than that, could she really let herself take the position that she herself had made vacant all those years ago? What would Ichigo –

He'd yell at her for hesitating and insist that yes, she could.

"I accept," she said, her voice growing a bit more firm. Gently, she removed the badge from its box and fixed it to her forearm. "Thank you. Thank you so, so much."

Her head was bowed so low that it almost hit the table.

"There's nothing to thank me for. I didn't give you this position; you've earned it all for yourself. Besides, I'm afraid I'm going to have to assign you to your next mission right away."

Rukia lifted her head, looking slightly perplexed. Another mission? Already?

"Of course, Ukitake-taichou, but what exactly do you need me to do?"

Ukitake's smile grew wider. He was positively brimming with mischief at this point.

"How would you like to take a trip back to Karakura town?"

* * *

"Could have made getting a hold of you a little harder," Ichigo scoffed to the figure at his side.

Ginjo smirked, jiggling the key to the apartment door in its lock. "Well, it's not much of a secret club if just anyone can have the phone number to get in and the door's unlocked. Publicity isn't the kind of thing we're after."

"All I'm saying is that the last time I joined in on this kind of thing, all I had to do was walk into an old warehouse."

"Woah now," Ginjo chuckled, "your after school occultist activities aren't any of my business. Xcution likes to operate with a little more class and sophistication. We'll grow on ya. Just give it some time."

The two entered the dimly lit room, a lone figure standing behind the bar and cleaning a glass with a white rag.

"Gentlemen," the man spoke, "I've been expecting you. Would either of you fancy a drink."

"Yo, Giriko. Gimme a cold one," Ginjo said, shooting the eyepatched man a casual salute.

"Nothing for me. I'm underage," Ichigo added, following Ginjo over to the couch. The two sat, Ichigo slouching over and resting his forearms against his knees while Ginjo was quick to prop his feet up on the coffee table and throw his arms around the back of the couch.

"You'd think with hair like that, drinking alcohol would be the least of your offenses."

Ichigo physically recoiled back at the sound of a new voice. His head shot in the direction of the black-clad boy with white hair and a handheld gaming system clasped in his hands.

"Yukio, be a little nicer to our guests," Ginjo drawled, grabbing the glass that Giriko had offered him.

"Sure, whatever," the boy responded, not bothering to look up from his game.

The two men on the couch gave Yukio a second or two's glance before looking back to one another, both with brow quirked.

"So," Ichigo began, "you mentioned being able to help me out. What kind of help are you talking about?"

"Well, that's a conversation in and of itself. Where do you want to start? The fact that you've been a miserable sight ever since you lost your power?"

Ichigo sputtered.

"Well what? Did you think your little apathetic act would work? You're not cut out for Broadway, kid; that's putting it nicely."

Ichigo just stared. He was torn between being freaked out by the fact that Ginjo had apparently been stalking him for a while now and calling him out on the insult. He hadn't been acting. He'd been just fine without his power. He'd been fine without being a Shinigami and without Zangetsu and without the Hollow. He'd been fine without Rukia.

Who was he kidding? Nobody, apparently.

"And what about it?" he asked.

"Well, we can start by shoving some power back into you. That'd probably give you the jolt you need to get back on your feet."

Ichigo almost scoffed. There was the bait he'd been expecting. Of course, this was the part where they probably wanted him to hop up and down, clap his hands, and pay the admission fee regardless of how steep it was. Of course, they probably weren't expecting him to use them just the same way he'd used Shinji and his crew back before the Winter War.

"You're saying you can make me a Shinigami again? What are you, full of crap? If Urahara can't do it, then why would you have some way?"

"That's where you're wrong, Ichigo," Ginjo responded, lifting his hand and motioning the glass towards the boy. "We're not turning you into a Shinigami. It's true you've lost your power, and it's true that we can't get the same stuff back to you – trust me, I've tried."

What? He'd tried? Ichigo blinked, remembering to ask more about that later.

"What we can do is get some new power flowing into you. They won't be quite the same, but it's better than nothing, right?"

Ichigo stared for a second, trying to get a read on Ginjo's face.

"So what? Are you going to turn me into a Hollow or something?"

Ginjo laughed.

"No, no. Nothing like that. You're not too far off the mark, though. Tell me, Ichigo. Have you ever heard of something called a Fullbring?"

* * *

 _Thanks for reading!_

 _I hope you've enjoyed yourself so far. I know this chapter's a bit shorter than the others, but this is supposed to be a little disjointed from the narrative proper. Consider it a taste of Rukia that we never got in canon, and please take it as a blessing.  
_


	6. Welcome to our Xcution II

_Hey everyone,_

 _It's another short chapter this time around, but expect that to change soon. We'll get back to that 5k word minimum if it kills me._

 _Feel free to leave some constructive criticism on narrative direction, writing style, or anything else._

 **Updated: 3/19/17  
**

* * *

The world was spinning – not just in one direction, but in several. It was twisting in on itself and rotating in every which way that Karin could imagine. Something had hit her, and it had hit her hard. What was it again?

Memories flooded her throbbing head when she tried to recall how she'd ended up like this. Jinta had done something to her. Whether it was a kick or a punch, she wasn't sure. Had it even been Jinta? Was it Ururu? That would make sense. Come to think of it, she'd been giving Jinta a run for his money before Ururu had intervened, hadn't she?

 _"There will be time to dwell here later, child. For now, you must awaken."_

What?

Karin shot up in bed, gasping and clutching her chest. Her breathing was labored, almost like she'd woken up from a nightmare. What was that weird voice? Had it been a dream? She couldn't even remember the way it had sounded in her head. It was like an empty echo. She knew the words, but couldn't remember how they'd been said to her.

Her time to process whatever that could have been was cut abruptly short when she realized where she was. Two seconds ago, she thought she was sawing logs on the ground of Urahara's training room. That little assumption of hers couldn't be further from the truth.

She was back home, lying in her bed with Yuzu sound asleep next to her. Without really thinking, she slid out of bed and walked over to the window. Through the cracks in the blinds, Karin could barely make out the sliver of the crescent moon in the sky. She'd been out longer than she expected. Long enough to get carted back to her house and snuck in without anyone noticing, at least.

What she'd been able to do down in Urahara's training room. Was that normal? Could any soul do that? It was like taking that kick from Jinta had woken something up in her. It was basic. It was simple. It was...

It was instinctual.

A wry smile played across Karin's face as she pulled up the blinds and opened the window, letting the evening breeze blow through her hair. She leaned against the windowsill on her forearms, idly clenching and unclenching her hand in a relaxed fist. Even now, she could feel whatever it was that had sprung up from her resonating in the center of her being.

Would Yuzu sense it? Would Ichigo's friends find out? Did Dad know? If they did, what would they say? Did any of that even matter?

No. It didn't. Nobody could stand in Karin's way now. Whatever it was that was growing in her, it would be what gave Ichigo his power back. This wasn't her power – she wasn't looking to fight Hollows and save the day. She just wanted Ichigo to go back to his old self.

 _'Well, whatever Urahara did, it worked,'_ Karin reflected, the feeling of power flowing through her body still echoed with the memories of her fight with Jinta. _'Let's just hope that I can do better tomorrow. I'll become a Shinigami if it's the last thing I do.'_

She was about to close the window when she spotted something out in the distance. Whoever it was, they were walking towards the house. It would be hard not to notice that much with that spiked up orange hair.

Oh. It was Ichigo.

"Hey! Ichi-nii!" Karin called, careful not to be too loud about it out of courtesy for Yuzu and the neighbors. Her brother looked up, a slight smirk on his face. What was that glimmer dancing in his eyes? Karin hadn't seen anything like that since, well, since before her brother lost his power.

"You're up late, Karin. Homework on the first day of class?"

"Nah," she shook her head, "just woke up and wanted some air. Besides, speak for yourself."

"Yeah," Ichigo chuckled. "I got caught up with something at work. Ikumi can be a real slave driver when she wants to be, y'know?"

"Well, when you can't wake up in time to avoid a kick to the head from Dad, don't come crying to me."

Wordlessly, Ichigo threw a single hand in the air in acknowledgement before walking through the front door. Karin didn't know what was going on, but something had definitely changed with Ichigo. Maybe he was starting to hide his depression better, or maybe it was something else. Either way, the fact that he was cheering up was good.

Did that mean that Ichigo wouldn't need her to become a Shinigami anymore, though?

Well, if that wasn't an intrusive though. Karin shook her head. She'd already started down the path to becoming a Shinigami. What was she supposed to tell Urahara? "Don't worry, he got better. Thanks for the help, but we're done here?" And what about that voice? She was still plenty curious about that.

Well, there wasn't much sense in staying up any longer. She might as well hit the sack.

* * *

Ichigo practically threw himself onto the mattress of his bed. It had been a long afternoon, but not for the reason he'd told Karin. He crammed his hand into the back pocket of his pants, fishing out the badge that had represented so many of the memories he had of being a Shinigami.

Closing his eyes, he went back to his time with the Fullbringers. To think, they'd managed to actually pull a little bit of power out of this memento of his.

"Fullbring?" Ichigo had said the word slowly, letting it roll off his tongue and in between his teeth. "Never heard of it. Why?"

"Well here's the thing," Ginjo replied, "It's the key to you getting those power of yours back. Get it?"

"No, actually," Ichigo responded, his look becoming serious. "I'm gonna have to hear more. What the hell is a Fullbring?"

Ginjo's arrogant smirk spoke volumes. Suddenly, the small pendant around his neck flashed a bright green. It shifted, changing shape and size until a giant two-handed, double-edged sword embedded itself in the ground between Ichigo and Ginjo.

"Y'see kid?" Ginjo asked, lofting the weapon over his shoulder with one arm. "Fullbring, in its simplicity, is the ability to bend the souls of objects to your will. We're gonna teach it to ya. Dig?"

Ichigo was awestruck, his eyes fixed on the weapon. There was something primal that spoke to him. It was a big sword – not quite as big as Zangetsu – with a guard and an extra handle in the base of the blade proper. Still, the size alone was enough to draw the comparison. Ginjo might understand more about Ichigo than the boy had first thought.

"Okay," Ichigo said, "you have my attention. Now, how the hell do you propose I get a hold of this Fullbring?"

"Get a hold of it?" Ginjo laughed, his brow quirking upwards. "Ichigo, you've already got one. Come on, you've gotta have something you keep around you all the time. Something you don't forget, even if you forget you have it?"

Ichigo gave that a second of thought, stumbling briefly over the strange wording of that last sentence. . If there was something he'd always have with him, it would be that, wouldn't it?

"Yeah, I think I get what you mean," Ichigo said.

Carelessly, the boy fished into the exact pocket in his bag he knew he'd find the item that came to mind. Listlessly, he tossed the wooden, pentagonal badge towards Ginjo who lifted his unoccupied hand to catch it.

"This," he said with a scandalous lilt in his voice, "will work."

It was at that point that the door to the apartment burst open. Ginjo turned to face the newcomer – a girl with red hair tied up in twin-tails and dressed up in a black and white getup of some sort. Was that supposed to make her look like an employee at one of those maid cafes? If it was, Ichigo thought, it wasn't working.

"Yo, Ginjo!" She shouted. Oh great. She was pissed.

"Where the hell have you been hiding? I've been trying to get a hold of you for the better part of two days now! Don't tell me you're back to bringing in strays. You know how I…"

The girl stopped, her brown eyes fixed directly on Ichigo's. Whatever she'd seen on his face, it'd been shocking enough to get her to shut up at least.

"Something in my teeth?" he remarked.

"Uh…wh-whatever!" The girl replied, flustered and flushed before breaking eye contact with Ichigo. It didn't look like she had any intention of making it again. "Ginjo! You called me here. What did you want?"

"Sure, sure," Ginjo responded. It didn't look like he believed her claim for a second, and that was probably because she made it up on the spot. Still, he wasn't the kind of person to turn down a free lunch.

"Ichigo, Riruka. Riruka, Ichigo. It's a good idea for you two to get acquainted with one another, because she's going to be in charge of beating your Fullbring out of you."

"Wait. WHAT!?"

"What?"

Riruka looked absolutely panicked, her gaze flashing back and forth between Ichigo and Ginjo. She'd covered her mouth, flushing even deeper in embarrassment from her outburst.

"Don't 'what' me. You're the girl for the job," Ginjo said. Then, edging closer to her with a sly grin on his face, he continued in a whisper Ichigo wouldn't quite be able to hear. "Or you will be once you get over you little crush."

"Shut up! Fine! I'll do it!"

Riruka rushed over to the cabinet beside the couch that Yukio had yet to move from, fishing something out of it before walking back and planting it back on the table.

It was a wooden dollhouse painted pink and white. The design was a little flashy – Ichigo doubted he'd remember what it looked like after today. Still, he wasn't sure exactly how this thing was supposed to help him.

"So what?" he asked "Does this turn into a weapon, too?"

"Idiot," Riruka mumbled, tilting her head down and crossing her arms in an attempt to contain another outburst. She'd already been caught off guard by how much of a freaking bishi this new guy was. She didn't need to embarrass herself further.

"Not quite," Ginjo responded. "Fullbrings aren't always weapons, Ichigo. They're reflections of the user's soul – more so than your run of the mill Zanpakuto. They've got a few more uses than just for fighting. Riruka's is…"

"I can tell him!" The girl broke in, her glare practically piercing through Ginjo's head. If she could do one thing well, it was talk about her own power.

Wordlessly, Ginjo held up his hands in surrender. He was going to leave it up to her. Well, at least he knew when to do that.

"All right," Riruka sighed. "Listen up. I'm only going to say this once. This is my Fullbring; Dollhouse. I only let the things I like into it, y'hear?"

She smirked at her own double entendre.

"Uh…maybe you could be a little more specific," Ichigo responded, a blank expression playing on his face.

"What? Was that too complicated for you?" Riruka asked. She could be playful if she wanted to be, dang it. "Sorry, that's about as dumbed down as it can get. I guess I'll just have to show you."

"Show me?" Ichigo asked.

The girl snapped, and a small, pink heart flashed into existence before spinning around her thumb. Ichigo looked on in confusion as the mark floated its way over to the collar of his school uniform.

"Gotcha," Riruka sneered, jabbing her index finger in his direction. "Now come on in, Ichigo. We're going to have a little fun, okay?"

Ichigo had blinked, and the next thing he knew he was about six inches tall and stuck inside the toy house that Riruka had called her Fullbring.

* * *

The next day had been long – Karin was slowly starting to think that she'd never stop hating school when the promise of training with Urahara was just beyond the boundary of the bell. She didn't care about Japanese or Algebra. The most interesting thing to her at the moment was how far she could push this new strength she'd come across.

With the ringing of the final bell, Karin was out of her desk and on her way out the door. She knew exactly what she wanted, and nothing was going to get in her way.

Nothing except Yuzu.

"Karin! Where are you in a rush to?" she asked, practically throwing herself in front of Karin. "You were in a hurry to get out yesterday, too. I'd figured you were at soccer club, but you got home really late and they don't even hold try-outs until next week."

Well, that was a wrench in the works if there ever was one. Yuzu would want answers, and she was way too good at getting the truth out of Karin for a lie to work. It was probably because they were twins; Yuzu could always tell when Karin wasn't being honest.

"Well, y'see. Uh, I was…I was trying to catch up with one our old upperclassmen."

It was a bad excuse, but it would have to work. Hopefully Yuzu would just buy it. Well, Karin could hope for that all she wanted, but that still wouldn't erase the disbelief off her sister's face.

"Mhm," the girl hummed, "and which one would that be?"

"Kageyama-senpai?" Karin said, though it was more of a question than anything else.

Yuzu gave an exasperated sigh.

"Karin, we're thirteen now. We're teenagers – practically adults – you're going to have to learn how to be a better liar than that."

"It's not a lie!" Karin insisted. "Look, I've really gotta go. We can talk later, okay?"

Karin hastily brushed by Yuzu, rushing down the hallway with as fast a gait as the rules would allow. All she had to do after that was grab her shoes from her locker and run down to Urahara's.

"Running only makes you look more suspicious!" Yuzu called as her sister disappeared into the background. Karin did her best to ignore her.

* * *

Back at Urahara's training grounds, Karin was already decked out in her old gym uniform. Red spandex shorts and the white shirt with her last name emblazoned on it in scrawled handwriting aside, she was feeling confident.

"So," she said, addressing Urahara from her stretch – one leg stuck out to the side and fully extended, the other bent as she leaned towards the foot of her extended leg. She figured that if there was time to loosen up, she might as well. "Are you going to make me fight Jinta again today?"

"Not quite," Urahara said. That confirmed Karin's suspicions – she'd been the only one down here today beside Urahara himself. "I'm going to start you on something a little less intensive."

"What?" Karin blurted out. "But I nearly kicked his ass yesterday!"

"Yes, and that's why we're keeping up with this in the first place. Surely you've felt it by now; the power welling up in you," Urahara commented.

So he was aware of that much, too? What didn't this guy know?

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Good, good. We won't have to go over awareness, then. Already a much quicker study than your brother in that aspect, I see."

The compliment most certainly didn't make her blush.

"As you may know, a Shinigami's most vital tool is their Zanpakuto. How they get them, though, might take you a while. But it's okay, I've developed a solution."

From what might as well have been the man's back pocket, Urahara drew out a sheathed blade. It looked perfectly average – a square guard, red string wrapped around the gold handle, and everything else you might expect from a modestly stylized katana.

"This is a special sword. I've augmented it so it'll draw on that power of yours – we'll call it your reiryoku from now on – a lot quicker than the standard asauchi that's given to Shinigami cadets. With any luck, this will turn you into a full-fledged Shinigami in no time."

Urahara extended the blade, and Karin reached out to grab it by the hilt. The urge to bow as she took it overtook her, and she followed that impulse while mumbling a "thank you."

"Now," Urahara continued, "why don't you hop out of that body of yours? There's one last thing we need to take care of."

Before Karin could react, Urahara had thrust the end of his cane into her forehead. She stumbled back, trying her best not to trip over her Chain of Fate. Not that she'd have to worry about doing that for much longer.

With a flick of Urahara's wrist, a metallic flash shocked through the air and the sound of shattering steel had Karin recoiling even more. He'd broken her chain, the crazy bastard.

"What the hell!?" Karin screamed.

"This is all part of becoming a Shinigami, Kurosaki-san. Isn't that what you wanted?" The man asked, his cane now a sword with the disguised sheath laying in the dirt next to him.

"You never told me you were going to straight up kill me! Don't you think you should have mentioned that at least?" She spat back, grinding her teeth in frustration.

"And would you have agreed if I'd 'straight up' told you?" Urahara asked.

Karin fumed. That was no reason to just not mention something so important. Could she even get back in her body anymore? Was there a way to reconnect her chain? Questions were running through her head at a mile a minute, and her temper was rising with each one.

"Fine, lemme return the favor!" she screamed, throwing the sheath of her sword to the side – somehow it had followed her on the way out of her body. She lunged forward, jumping over her fresh corpse and coming down on Urahara with a devastating downward cut.

Well, she thought it was devastating. He seemed to have no issue parrying her two-handed attack off to the side with another casual flick of his wrist.

"You'll be a Hollow before you know it at that rate," he commented. Karin flinched, hoping he was lying. The serious look on his face told her better, though.

"When the Chain of Fate is broken, two things can happen. First, if the person is left alone for a few weeks – a month if you're lucky – they turn into a Hollow. Barring that, a Shinigami reaches them and performs a konso. That'll send the soul off to Soul Society where it won't have to worry about pesky things like Hollowfication. When I did this to your brother…Well, let's just say it was a close call. He was able to awaken his power, though. All's well that ends well, so they say."

Karin swung at him again, and Urahara nimbly ducked underneath the horizontal strike.

"You tried to turn him into a Hollow? You killed him, too!?"

"Don't you think 'killed' is a bit of an ugly word to use, Kurosaki-san?" Urahara replied, adjusting his hat with a cocky smirk. "Once you find your power, you'll have no trouble getting back into your body. You can go back to living like a normal middle schooler after that."

Another swing, another block.

"Feisty, aren't you? Well, you better stop focusing on me and start focusing on that sword if you want to make progress any time soon. Take a look at that."

Karin looked down, following Urahara's pointing finger to the severed end of her Chain of Fate. Was it growing teeth?

"Tick tock, Kurosaki-san," Urahara drawled. "Once that chain is finished eating itself, you're as good as Hollowfied, you know."

Panic set in on Karin after that, and she was at a total loss. Just what the hell was she supposed to do?

* * *

"Inoue-san, please wait!"

She was panting so hard that she could barely hear her feet slamming against the pavement, but she wasn't so far gone that she didn't Uryuu cry out to her. She skidded to a stop, turning her head back to shoot a concerned glance to Uryuu and Chad who were taking up the rear.

Even though the three of them had been in class not twenty minutes ago, they'd had no qualms about getting up and abandoning class for the day. It was the usual affair for one of them to get up every now and then whenever there was a Hollow or, more rarely, when they actually had to go to the bathroom. The strange part was all three of them being out at the same time.

Ochi-sensei had come close to not allowing it; they'd only gotten away from class by spacing out their departures, and even then Uryuu and Chad had both had to rush out without waiting for permission. Still, the future consequences were negligible compared to what they'd felt before taking off.

"I'm sorry, Ishida-kun. It's just..." she trailed.

The two boys stopped as they approached her, Uryuu panting slightly from the stress while Chad remained as steady as if he'd just taken a leisurely stroll through the park.

"No, you don't need to apologize," Uryuu picked up. "It's understandable. This reiatsu is reason enough to cause concern. Besides, Sado-san and I had a late start compared to you."

Inoue nodded, then looked back in the direction of Urahara's shop.

It was funny. She found herself hoping against hope for the one thing she was sure her friends were secretly desiring.

 _"Please, please don't let it be Kurosaki-kun in there."_

* * *

 _Thanks for stopping by. Take care._


	7. Remember Your Pride

_Here we go again. Let's see how long I can stay on the horse this time around, shall we?_

 _School is officially out. You're reading fanfic from a college grad. Not sure what that says about me._

 _Forever salty, am I right?_

 **Updated 6/15/17  
**

* * *

Karin had never been any good with the _spiritual_ side of seeing spirits. All she knew was that she could see them and that they could see her in turn. It wasn't supposed to be any more complicated than that. Reiatsu? Asauchi? She hardly understood the words, but they were terms that Urahara seemed to throw around like their meanings were common knowledge.

"So, how is this even supposed to work?" Karin asked Urahara, trying to mask her frustration.

"No ideas of your own? Well, why don't you start by trying to focus?" Urahara smirked.

Karin seethed, swinging the blade at Urahara again only for him to parry her blow. The red of her ire tightened into a raging crimson that swathed over her face, and another slash flew by Urahara's head. He'd dodged, of course, but every attack that failed to make contact only fueled her inner fire.

"You see, that's the opposite of focusing," Urahara quipped.

 **"Shut up!"**

Urahara's blade came up to intercept Karin's next attack, and metal ground against metal in a battle between Karin's resolve and the shopkeeper's vast experience.

"You're a feisty one. I'll give you that."

Urahara was quick to flick Karin's blade to the side. He'd either been hiding his strength until now, Karin thought, or her efforts were finally starting to take a toll on her.

"But your emotions are clouding your mind, and that's not a good thing. When I did this with your brother…"

Urahara threw an attack for the first time since they'd started this scuffle of theirs, and Karin barely jumped back in time. The sound of air separating around the blade of his cane sword and the feeling of wind against her face stilled her thought process. She didn't have to look up to see the change in his eyes to know this wasn't just her taking out her frustrations on a moving target anymore. Urahara had turned it into a survival match.

"He had the luxury of a vacation from school and a slew of natural talent that you don't seem to be willing to tap into. You'll have to forgive me to skipping right to the third stage of your training. You see…"

Urahara was in front of her again, his sword cocked back for a dangerous upward slash. She barely managed to solidify her grip around the hilt of her sword before the attack sailed through the air, crashing into her weak defense and actually lifting her off her feet to send her flying some ten feet up and twice that back where she collapsed to the ground.

"I'm trying to get you to fight back by backing you into a corner."

Even after getting to her feet, Karin was struggling to keep up. Urahara's strikes came so quickly and with so much force behind them that her attempts at blocking and dodging hardly bore any fruit.

 _'How is he this fast?'_

Cuts on her face and through her training clothes were splattered with thin lines of blood. Things were serious. Her veins burned with adrenaline. She couldn't think. She could hardly breathe. All that existed in this moment was the flow from one sword strike to the next.

 _'Did Ichigo really stand up to this with just a sword and his raw power?'_ she thought, allowing herself a moment to admire him.

And that was her first mistake.

Urahara's leg came out of nowhere. Following a particularly strong attack that she'd barely blocked, his foot snaked its way between her poorly constructed stance and sent her reeling with a harsh tug at her ankle. The distance that created between the two of them was of little effect; he was in front of her in an instant, the palm of his free hand impacting her face and putting her on the ground.

 _'I thought I'd gotten stronger, but he's at an entirely different level.'_

His sword was poised to stab downwards into her skull, and all her anger from before washed out of her body to make room for bone-chilling panic. She wasn't going to be able to escape. Was this supposed to be the end? What would even happen if she died as a soul? Reincarnation? Soul Society? Something else?

And then, salvation.

A bolt of blue energy shot across the room and crashed against Urahara's sword. The force knocked it from his hand, through the air, and deep into a nearby rock where it hummed as the leftover force worked its way out of the blade.

Karin's eyes tore to her savior only to find that there were three of them.

 _"Ichigo's friends? What are they doing here?"_

"Sado," Ishida barked.

Without so much as a reply, the giant's right arm flashed with a brilliant light that, when dimmed, revealed a monstrous red and black form with fins jutting out of both sides. It had changed since Karin saw it the first time. It was almost more shield-like in appearance now. It suited him given that he was a solid wall of gravitas, Karin thought.

But if the arm was a shield, it was damn potent when it came to shelling out attacks. Chad's legs coiled into the ground and sprung out, and with a blinding charge and punch he sent Urahara jumping back to avoid and enormous burst of energy that shattered the ground where the shopkeeper had once stood.

That sort of power…It just wasn't natural.

"Karin-chan! Are you okay?"

Taking her eyes off of the action, Karin turned to see Inoue kneeling over her. A dull orange hemisphere formed around her, and Karin blinked in surprise as her wounds started knitting themselves back together like they'd never been there in the first place. Even her clothing seemed to be knitting itself back together. Orihime was at her side with arms extended out in front of her. She was the one doing the healing, then?

"W-what's going on? Why are you guys here?" Karin muttered.

Ishida broke in, answering for Orihime. It was probably for the best. Her brows were knit together in some mixture of focus and frustration.

"Urahara called us here, but we had no idea he had cut your Chain of Fate," he began. "Moreover, where he got that Zanpakuto to give you is another mystery."

Ishida adjusted his glasses, his gaze on her becoming more poignant as he did so.

"Tell me, Kurosaki. Why are you trying to become a Shinigami?"

 _"Damn,"_ Karin thought, " _Ichigo wasn't lying when he said this guy was quick on the uptake."_

Though she was basically prone to the ground, Karin still somehow managed to shift away from her interrogator and scowl. She spit out an answer while refusing to meet Ishida's eyes.

"So what if I am? You think you can stop me?"

"No, nothing like that," Ishida sighed while adjusting his classes, "I was just wondering how Urahara roped you into something like this."

Inoue's aura dissipated, and Karin sat up and stood to her feet. It didn't make much of a difference; Ishida was still at least two heads taller than her, and Orihime a little less.

"He said it's the only way for Ichigo to get his power back," Karin replied. "He conveniently forgot to tell me about the part where I turn into a Hollow if I take too long. I've apparently only got about three weeks to get this Shinigami stuff down."

"Three weeks!?" The panic was apparent on his face. Apparently things were even worse than Karin had already led herself to believe. "That won't be nearly enough."

Ishida was cut short by Chad's hulking form came sliding across the ground, his feet digging deep into it and leaving ruts along his path. His arms were crossed in front of his face as if he'd tried to block some sort of attack – heavily seared and still smoking from the energy.

"You've been getting better, Yasutora-san," Urahara said offhandedly, his recovered sword in his right hand and letting off similar smoke to Chad's arms. "Could it be you've figured a few new things out about those arms of yours? Care to share with the rest of the class?"

Chad remained silent, his eyes still locked onto Urahara's chest as if trying to predict the shopkeeper's next movement.

"His sword changed shape," Karin murmured, taking note of the new, curved guard, the red cord at the pommel. The blade was still only one-sided, but it was straight – almost like the shape of a box cutter. When had that happened, she had to wonder.

"That's its true form," Ishida replied, his gaze not breaking from Urahara's approach. "If your training looks at all like your brother's, I'd imagine he's planned on teaching you that next. It might even be what he's trying to get you to do now. No, it's…It's not a typical way for that to happen, but I'm sure that's what he's counting on."

 _'Not typical? The hell's that supposed to mean?'_ Karin thought.

"Yes, yes. You've seen right through my plan as always," Urahara replied, absently clapping with his sword still in hand and a smug grin on his face. "So, are you interested in hearing the role you all are supposed to play?"

Ishida scoffed. "I can only imagine you want me to teach her how to actually push her reiatsu into that sword you gave her."

"Bingo!" Urahara replied.

"Which means you want Inoue-san to keep her stamina up while she's fighting, and you want Sado to…"

"To fight her, naturally," Urahara responded, a patronizing grin on his face as if he were congratulating a child for answering a question on a test correctly.

"I refuse."

Orihime, Ishida, Urahara, and Karin's heads all snapped around to acknowledge Chad. The boy had taken on solid footing and was standing tall. He looked Urahara dead in the eye, becoming an unmovable object in both appearance and in tone of voice with his next words.

"I made a promise to my Abuelo and to Ichigo. I will not use my fists to harm others. The one exception to that rule is when Ichigo needs me to fight."

Karin's brow quirked. She had no idea what that was about, and honestly she didn't have time to ask about it. Still, she could use this to her advantage if she played her cards right. If Chad would only fight for Ichigo's sake, then maybe he'd fight for the sake of Ichigo regaining his powers.

"Right now, Ichi-nii _does_ need you to fight," she said. Chad turned his gaze from Urahara to Karin, his brow lifting slightly as if asking her to go on. Karin, though a little intimidated by their sheer size difference, swallowed and continued.

"You must have seen him. You're his friend. He's miserable!" she practically shouted, bending over and throwing her arms to her side. Her face contorted in frustration as she made her case. "If I can give him whatever power I'm able to gain, he might go back to his old self. So please, fight me!"

Chad paused, a quiet moment passing as he considered Karin's offer. Could he really fight this little girl with hardly any reiatsu to brag about simply because she wanted to help Ichigo? Would Ichigo be able to forgive him if he found out that the fists Chad had promised to use only to help him had been used on his little sister? Even if Karin was trying to help Ichigo, would Chad be able to bring himself to help Karin?

"Does Ichigo know that you're here?"

Chad's question was simple, but it pierced right to the heart of the issue. Karin grimaced, breaking eye contact and betraying the secret she'd been keeping. Chad seemed to easily pick up on that, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"He can't know," Karin mumbled. "Ichi-nii wouldn't let me do this. He thinks it's too dangerous."

The giant released his arm's transformation and placed his left hand on the girl's shoulder. He met her eyes, making sure she would understand his seriousness.

"If Ichigo doesn't know you're here, then I can't help you."

The sound of Chad's footsteps as he made his way to the exit filled the air, and the further he got the quieter the room became. Karin, for her part, didn't even try to mask the frustration from her face. She was biting her lower lip so hard that she was afraid she'd draw blood.

"Karin-chan," Orihime started.

"What? Are you two gonna take off, too?" Karin asked. "Bet you think I have a lot of nerve trying to help Ichigo out. Bet you think I'm trying to do the impossible. You all must have tried everything already, right? Must have just _exhausted_ the list of possibilities."

Her voice was gaining volume, and as hard as Karin tried she couldn't contain the anger. Still, Orihime looked unphased by all of it. The defensive stoicism from the orange haired girl didn't strike the right chord, and even though Karin knew she'd be hitting below the belt if she went any further she didn't care. Sometimes lines had to be crossed to prove points and get things done.

"I bet you never thought for one second that maybe Ichi-nii was better off without powers! That he couldn't go out and get hurt anymore this way and you wouldn't have to worry about him! No, if you thought that then it might become obvious that you don't give two shits about him; that the only thing you really care about in all of this is yourself!"

Honestly, she'd expected to be slapped for saying that. She'd known about Orihime's crush on her brother ever since the end of the Winter War – it was hard not to see in the way she doted on him and seemed to break down every time something bad happened. She was a girl who wore her heart on her sleeve, and that made her emotions an easy target for attack.

Instead, Orihime had rushed in and wrapped her arms around the girl to pull her into a tight embrace.

That shut Karin up immediately.

"I understand," Orihime whispered. "You're frustrated. You know Kurosaki-kun isn't happy, so you're doing everything you can to help. And you're right, I've been ignoring his feelings about all this."

Orihime's hug ended, and she took Karin by the shoulders and held her at arm's length.

"But I've stood by Kurosaki-kun's side every step of the way up until now. Every step that he'd let me, at least. I tried to be as close to him as I could get. I tried to be the person that he could fight for and the person who could mend his wounds. I…I relied on him too heavily, and because of that I saw him turn into something. Something that he wasn't."

Karin could tell by the doe-eyed look that Orihime was sending her way that the girl was saying these things genuinely, but there was still something about it that rubbed her the wrong way. Ichigo wanted power. Karin would say that it was one of the things he needed to be happy.

But there were also plenty of times Karin could remember that having power wasn't enough to make Ichigo happy. She'd seen him get depressed before he supposedly gave up his powers, but it was also never this bad before.

So what was it? Was Ichigo happy with his powers or wasn't he? Orihime certainly seemed to think otherwise, but if Ichigo's behavior was anything to go off of then he didn't agree with that sentiment one bit.

And in the end, that's what this was all about, right? Ichigo being happy? Karin didn't care if Orihime disagreed with her methods. This was what she thought – what she knew – was going to work best.

Karin's hands came up in between Orihime's arms, pushing them off of her. Being angry at someone who came off so caring and mild-mannered as Orihime was difficult, but Ichigo's signature scowl didn't prove to be too far from possible for Karin when she spoke next.

"Who the hell are you to decide who Ichi-nii is and who he isn't?"

"Karin-cha…"

"Cram it!" Karin spat back before Orihime could even defend herself. "If you don't want him to get his power back, that's your own problem. As far as I'm concerned, you can either pitch in or buzz off."

Orihime recoiled at Karin's venom. She knew that Ichigo could have quite the mouth on him when he was talking to people he didn't care for, but she'd never had the same rhetoric turned on her. She wasn't sure how to respond or even if she could without losing ground in the argument.

"If that's your choice," she breathed. "I won't try to stop you. But the next time Kurosaki-kun turns into a monster because of this power you're trying to give him, will you be there for him? Can you say that you won't be afraid of him when the ugly side of him shows up? It's harder than you might think."

With that, and in complying with Karin's wishes, Orihime turned and followed the trail that Chad had blazed.

Karin's glare rounded back to Urahara without any attempt to mask her ire. The shopkeeper still had that coy little smirk on his face. It was like watching the situation he'd arrange explode was a game to him.

"Looks like your grand plans have gone up in smoke," she sighed. Whatever Orihime had been talking about before didn't make any sense, so it was best to just push it off as her being selfish and paranoid. Ichigo would never become a monster; it wasn't within his capabilities.

"Now, now. Let's not give up all hope just yet. What do you think of all this, Ishida-san?"

When Karin looked over to Uryuu, his gaze was still fixed on Orihime's departing form. There was a pensive look on his face. Whatever was on his mind was obviously bothering him. His gaze shifted from the girl to his right arm, boring holes into the limb.

"Fine," Uryuu eventually responded while clasping his fist. "Kurosaki wants…No, he needs his power back, and we might need him to have it back too."

He met Karin's eyes, looking at her with something akin to determination – or maybe that was resignation. Still, realizing that she'd at least have one more mentor to help her get a hold of becoming a Shinigami was a relief that had her exhaling a breath she'd forgotten she'd been holding.

"For now, let's stop focusing on the combat side of your training and start looking at how you're channeling your reiatsu into the sword. If you can't do that much, there's no way you're going to be able to awaken your Zanpakuto in time to avoid Hollowfication."

His last words were said with a pointed glance at Urahara, and Karin wondered if it was just that Urahara had put her in a dangerous situation or if there was something both these men were neglecting to tell her.

"Let's not be too harsh, Ishida-kun," Urahara sighed. "When Kurosaki-san was taking this step, I put him at the bottom of a pit filled with gas that accelerated the process. Where the younger sister here has three weeks, her brother had three days."

"Yes. He did," Uryuu shot back. "And look at how well that turned out."

It was a contest that pitted Uryuu's condemning stare against Urahara's cool, lackadaisical nonchalance. The air hung silent with some unsaid pressure, and the rapid spike in tension left Karin feeling awkward and hasty to move on.

"Enough about Ichi-nii. This is about my training right now," she interrupted. "Unless the two of you are fine with just letting me turn into a Hollow."

"I believe that's your que, Ishida-san," Urahara smirked.

"Right," the Quincy responded. "Though I think I'll be taking a slightly less violent approach."

* * *

"What are you doing running away like a little pussy? You're a man, ain't ya!? Stand and fight!"

The words may have stirred Ichigo to action if they'd been coming from anyone but a gigantic version of Riruka and he'd been anywhere but cramped inside a pink and plushy pastelscape at a fraction of his original height.

"I'd be happy to," he hollered up to the opening in the ceiling. "Just one question. **How!?** _"_

It was the same question he'd been asking for the past thirty minutes now, and it had only become more frequent after the stuffed animal that Riruka had affectionately named "Mr. Pork" had gone from twice Ichigo's size to nearly three times it and started rampaging around.

Apparently Giriko was to blame for that transformation, but the more important information Ichigo had gleaned from eavesdropping on that conversation was that he wouldn't be allowed out until he manifested a Fullbring.

Riruka had called it an ability of love. If this was how she expressed that sentiment, Ichigo figured he'd do well to keep that girl as far away from him as possible after this. That was a case of sadism he didn't need in his life.

"Are you still on about that? Geez, talk about a buzzkill," Riruka groaned. "I already told you. We've been using Fullbring since we were in diapers. It's more natural than breathing for us. We don't have the tips and tricks you late bloomers keep whining about."

Another plush limb swung down, and Ichigo jumped back to avoid taking the blow. Even if this thing was stuffed, it seemed to be doing plenty of damage to the environment around it. The prospect of getting hit by a blow like that with no protection was daunting at best. Without powers, Ichigo didn't know how durable he was.

Outside the Dollhouse, the five members of Xcution had gathered around to observe Ichigo's performance. Giriko's Fullbring may have prevented Ichigo and Mr. Pork from being removed until Ichigo's Fullbring manifested, but it didn't stop any of them from stepping in to aid their student should he need it.

"You know," Jackie commented, "when you said you'd roped _the_ Kurosaki Ichigo, I figured he'd have gotten the handle of his Fullbring by the time I showed up."

"Might just be that the difficulty curve is too high for him," Yukio commented absently, his fingers tapping away at his handheld. "Not like he can just get thrown into a toy chest and told to figure out powers that run contrast to what he's used."

"Have a little faith in the kid," Ginjo cut in. "We're asking him to figure out something in hours that we slowly learned to do over years. If we get anywhere at all today, it'll be a miracle."

The sound of a key cramming its way into a lock echoed in the room, and then Chad's massive form burst through the door. His face didn't say much about his intentions, but his body language was rushed. He was gasping for breath, and his eyes were darting around the room.

"Yo, Chad," Ginjo greeted, "looking for someone?"

"Ichigo," Chad breathed, righting his posture. "There's something I need to tell him. You sent a message earlier today saying he was with you."

"Right in there," Ginjo replied, jutting a thumb towards the Dollhouse in the center of the room. "He's a little preoccupied at the moment. Mind waiting here while he finished up?"

No time," Chad turned to Riruka. "Put me in."

"No way. I don't like you that much," the girl deadpanned, waving a hand in front of her face.

"I'm not asking," Chad threatened. Brazo Derecha de Gigante sprung to life around his arm after that, black and red armor crawling up from his fingers and springing into the shape of a shield.

The air grew thick as the others took turns looking back and forth between Chad and Riruka. Its presence obviously weighed on the girl, and before long she cracked.

"Ugh. Fine! But if you get your grubby hands on anything in there, I'll kill you!"

Riruka held up one hand and braced her wrist with the other. Her thumb pressed against her middle finger, and at the tip of her nail a heart came into being. When the pressure released, she smirked at her indirect way of flipping the man off while also hitting him with a pass.

Chad nodded as Riruka's Fullbring took effect and pulled him into the wood-and-cardboard structure.

"Looks like you have some stiff competition, Riruka," Yukio commented. "Not every girl can match up to a bromance like that. If you want, I can lend you a dating sim that'll teach you how to…"

"If you don't learn to watch your mouth, you're gonna be the next doll he fights!" the girl fumed.

* * *

Things were looking bad. Ichigo was panting hard and still had no idea how to get this damned Fullbring thing to work. He had no context to go off of here. He couldn't feel any reiatsu from the badge, and it wasn't like it was going to feed off of his like Zangetsu had. It was just a badge.

"Ichigo!"

From seemingly nowhere, Chad came in and slammed his right fist into the side of the rampaging stuffed pig's head, sending it flying into the wall across the room and putting it down for the count. It was a more impressive show of power than Ichigo had been putting on, and the orange haired boy was thankful for that if not a little jealous.

"Chad!" Ichigo called back, a smile playing on his face at the appearance of someone familiar in all this chaos. "How'd you find out about this place?"

Chad righted himself, releasing his right arm's transformation as he faced Ichigo.

"Well, to be honest," Chad started, "I was the one who told Ginjo and the others about you."

"You what?" Ichigo asked through brows knit in confusion. "No, wait, I've got a better question. If you told them about me, where did they find out about you? How do you know these guys? Are you the one who gave Ginjo all that info on my old man?"

Chad, ever direct, shook his head. "No. If they looked into you, it's just because they're paranoid. The rest will have to wait. Your little sister's in trouble, Ichigo."

Ichigo tensed, his gaze warping from confusion to grave seriousness. "What do you mean?"

"She's at Urahara's. He gave her a Zanpakuto and cut her…"

Chad hadn't even finished his sentence, but white hot panic had already hit Ichigo like a tsunami. He'd been afraid of this. He tried to steer her against it, but she still wound up just where he didn't want her to be. He should have just told her he was coming here, he thought.

"Damn it, Karin!" Ichigo interrupted. "We've gotta go. Riruka!"

"Cram it! I already told you the rules," a none-too-pleased voice boomed into the Dollhouse from the roof. "I even got one of your friends to play teacher for you. Get your pretty little face out of mine until you've got a damn Fullbring!"

"Bitch," Ichigo murmured before rounding back to Chad. "You've gotta help me out of here, Chad."

"You need to calm down."

"Calm down!? How the hell am I supposed to calm down when Urahara's **killing** my **sister!?** "

"She's already dead, Ichigo!"

The conversation dropped. Ichigo's wide-eyed stare bored into Chad, struggling to comprehend what he was hearing. His eyes crept down to the badge held in a white-knuckled grip, and he had to ask himself what the point was anymore.

Without thinking, Ichigo hucked the badge against the ground with a grunt and a clatter.

Suddenly, Chad was in front of Ichigo with a hand clasped at his collar. A rough yank upwards had Ichigo a good six or seven inches off the ground and at eye level with his dark-skinned friend. Ichigo's hands balled into fists and came down on the man's inner elbow, but the strike lacked sufficient force to buckle Chad's grip.

"Look at yourself, Ichigo! Ever since you lost your powers you've been a shell of your former self. What do you think you're going to accomplish the way you are now? You've got no powers. You probably couldn't even see her, let alone get her to leave. She's there of her own free will."

"That doesn't matter! If I go there, I can…"

"You can what? Stuff her back in her body and keep her locked up in your house until she turns into a Hollow? Have us go find Kurumadani and have him send her to Soul Society?"

"I already know that I can't stop her! That's not what I'm trying to do now! If she doesn't get the hang of this soon, she'll end up with a Hollow inside of her soul just like I did!"

Chad sighed. He should have figured Ichigo was more put together than his initial reaction to the situation let on. It was just that his tendency to dote on his siblings had wound him into a panic that left him unable to explain himself properly.

"All right. Lead with that next time," Chad sighed, setting Ichigo down. "Listen. I don't know how long your sister has until anything happens to her that Urahara can't handle. Ishida and Orihime should still be there to help."

"Did he have her at the bottom of some pit?" Ichigo asked. "That's where he kept me, and it apparently sped up the process."

When Chad responded with a shake of his head, Ichigo let out a breath of relief. "Good. She's got a few weeks, then. What we need to focus on right now then is getting me the hell out of this box," Ichigo concluded. Chad met the statement with a nod.

"You asked me earlier how I knew about this place," he said. "The truth is that a lot of the times I've been out of school in the past have been because I was training here to master my Fullbring."

"Your arms?" Ichigo guessed.

"No," Chad shook his head. "My skin. I still haven't gotten as far as I'd like to, but I think I'm closer to understanding how these powers of mine work."

"Any tips you have are more than welcome," Ichigo quipped. "The guys out there aren't exactly being helpful. Didn't even tell me how I was supposed to use this."

Ichigo bent down to the ground and retrieved the substitute badge, spurring another nod in response from his comrade. If there was anything Ichigo was going to use for a Fullbring he could fight with, it would be that badge.

"There is one thing they might not have told you," Chad said while bringing his arm up in front of his face. "With Shinigami powers, the power comes from inside of you and flows into your weapon. Fullbring is different. It's about using your tool to remember the times that you have pride in. If you're looking to use that badge, then you should start by remembering times you were proud to be a Shinigami."

A sigh escaped Ichigo's lips. His fingers curled tighter around the smooth, wooden ridges of the badge. His eyes shut gently and flashes of the past played behind closed lids.

 _"A time when I felt pride as a Shinigami, huh?"_

Grand Fisher was the first thing to come to mind. He'd asked Rukia to let him keep performing the duties of a Shinigami then. It was the first time he felt like he'd really found his calling.

Waking up Zangetsu and firing off his first Getsuga Tensho at Urahara. Something powerful and correct welled in his chest at that one.

Uniting with Zangetsu in the fight with Kenpachi. Saving Chad and Inoue from Ulquiorra and Yammy. The time he and Ishida had fought off that Menos before he'd even known what a Shikai was. When he finally beat that asshole Grimmjow down.

Losing control and slaughtering Ulquiorra without even the presence of mind to stop himself from hurting his friends.

 _"No,"_ Ichigo shook his head, putting the heel of his free palm to his forehead in concentration. _"If it's about times I was proud of my powers, then…"_

That night he took Rukia's sword through his chest to protect Yuzu and Karin for the first time. Watching the shock on Byakuya's smug face when he held Tensa Zangetsu to his throat. Shoving his hand in Aizen's pompous face.

The smile on Rukia's face after he said goodbye to her with the promise to meet again. The look of sorrow on her face when she knew she was fading away from his vision for what they'd thought would be the rest of his life.

 _"I can't even begin to count them all!"_

The badge pulsed in his hands, and from the depths of it a familiar black reiatsu surged forth and took form. Four prongs forward and turned at ninety degree angles, taking on the shape of a manji that reminded Ichigo almost too vividly of Tensa Zangetsu's guard.

Ichigo couldn't keep the smile from his face. For the first time in a long time, he finally felt like he'd taken a step forward.

Chad," he grinned. "Let's get the hell out of here.

* * *

 _I'm a little curious to see how many of my readers are still around. It's hard to believe that the one year anniversary of that terrible ending is coming up._

 _I guess I'll just have to keep trying to fix it a little at a time._

 _Reviews are always appreciated, though constructive or well-thought-out comments are always preferred._


	8. Cast Off Your Fear

_We're getting a little crazy with the pacing here. I'm counting four separate scenarios going on, which can only mean this is going to be about as easy to pace properly as a volume of RWBY._

 _More Rukia Shinigami this chapter, which means more stuff here we never got to see from canon. I hope you all enjoy that. We've also got Ichigo's reaction to finding out about Karin. I hope I kept him in-character for that. Characterization seems to be something you all think I'm good at, so I'd rather not disappoint.  
_

 **Updated: 6/29/17**

* * *

"You sure that was a good move?" Yukio asked. "Just letting him run off like that? If he's AFK for too long he might never come back, y'know."

"It's fine," Ginjo smirked, putting one hand against his clavicle and giving his shoulder a relaxed set of rolls. "Let the kid stretch his legs for a bit. Fullbring's got a way of tiring you out at first. I was gonna let him head home after this anyway."

"Sure," Riruka snarked, bringing a tissue back up to her face to blow her nose. She hated making herself sneeze like that. "Which is why you let him slap you out of the way and run out the door with the big guy in tow. Real large and in charge, there."

"He caught me off guard, okay?" Ginjo defended. "You think I should have expected that his first move after jumpin' outta that Dollhouse of yours was gonna be smacking me across the head with that big-ass swastika of his?"

"I believe the correct term is 'manji,' sir," Giriko cut in.

"Whatever," Ginjo spat. "He'll be back. Let's just leave it at that for now. Jackie, you've got next dibs on him, yeah?"

"Mm-hm," the woman slurred from the bar, absently swirling a glass of Chardonnay in her hand, one elbow propped on the table and her head leaned against her free hand. "So long as your old Shinigami friends don't get to him first, that is."

Ginjo smirked.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about them. The way Ichigo's chugging along, we'll be ready for them way before they bother showing up."

* * *

"Ichigo would never do something like that. It's impossible!"

The words had escaped her mouth before she even realized they'd formed in her head, and suddenly Rukia found twenty-five pairs of eyes on her. Fantastic. She just _had_ to make a fool of herself during the first official gathering of the captains and lieutenants since her promotion. What a wonderful first impression of her this must have been.

Byakuya must be so embarrassed. Renji was probably going to yuk it up later. Ukitake-taichou should have never promoted her. She should just leave the badge here and…

"She has a point."

What?

"It's hard to believe that Kurosaki would assist someone like Kuugo," Toshiro continued. "I may not have been around for his stint as a substitute, but if he's as bad a man as has been reported here then Kurosaki wouldn't have any intentions of helping him regain his powers. Or any others, for that matter."

Rukia was honestly surprised that her outburst had been taken in stride by the most straight-laced of the captains present (save, perhaps, for Yamamoto). In fact, there wasn't a sign of distaste around the room at all. Could it be that the higher-ups were always this relaxed in their interactions away from the watchful eyes of their subordinates?

"Be that as it may, we should treat this situation with the utmost care," Byakuya added. "Our sources in the world of the living report that Kuugo made contact with Ichigo a few days ago. Since then, his behavior has begun to change. It's important that we make our next move carefully."

The captain's words resonated with his peers, and even Rukia found herself nodding despite her previous protest at the accusation Head Captain Yamamoto had presented. Her brother was always rational. It made sense that he would be the one with the most level head about all this, especially given his history with Ichigo.

"And yer not afraid that the kid'll get pissy that we just so happened to show up right when he started poking his nose into some new shit?" Kenpachi grumbled. He was apparently no more comfortable in these meetings than Rukia despite his experience with them. "Seems like a good way to trash whatever good will he might have towards us."

"I have to agree with Zaraki-taichou here," Renji spoke up. "If Ichigo found out we'd been spying on him, he might start to think we don't trust him. He thinks of a lot of us as friends, after all. There's no reason he wouldn't be honest with us if we just contacted him."

Again, the group seemed to agree with that statement. The problem would be finding room in the ranks to send one of the several Shinigami Ichigo had befriended to the World of the Living, though.

"Abarai-kun does have a point," Ukitake followed. "And if Ginjo does tell him about the badge's true secondary purpose, he could look at it as a betrayal of his trust in us. We need to be careful with how we proceed."

Rukia would be lying if she said she didn't feel just a little overwhelmed. It had only been a few days since her promotion and they were already discussing a mission to Karakura Town that she was supposed to take part in. And, of course, Ichigo had to be the focus of it.

He was supposed to have more time. Why was he trying so hard to run out the clock?

"What does it matter? Push comes to shove, we have more than enough power to quash any uprising those petulant humans assemble," Mayuri cut in. "Then it's just a matter of keeping one of them alive long enough to do a little research on these 'Fullbringers,' and we'll be able to better enforce our power over them. Just like that bothersome Quincy uprising all those years ago."

Rukia felt the temperature of the room drop at the Squad 12 captain's statement. She knew that Kurotsuchi-taichou wasn't the most respected captain of the thirteen, but the genuine disdain she felt welling in the room around his words was unprecedented. Was it his methods, or maybe something else?

"I think avoiding that sort of mess would be the best for all of us," Kyouraku cut in, ever the favorite to break the awkward tension in the room. "I think we've all learned what happens when we try to kill the Kurosaki boy, don't you?"

There was a series of agreements from across the room, Rukia's the most fervent of the bunch. The best step forward they could take would be to find a way to engage Ichigo in good faith.

"But if Ichi does wind up trying to do something, Ken-chan'll be sure to smack him down good until he wants to be friends again!" Yachiru chimed in, popping up from Kenpachi's shoulder and offering a firm shake of her fist.

"Kusajishi-fukutaichou," Nanao replied, "wouldn't that go against our intention to avoid a fight in the first place?"

"Yeah," Yachiru sighed, the disappointment apparent in her voice and the way her shoulders slouched. "I guess you're right."

Ukitake cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of the room. "That brings us to our second order of business," he stated. "It would seem that ex-captain Urahara Kisuke has developed a method that he believes will be fruitful in returning Ichigo's original powers to him. If we can offer that olive branch, we may have the opportunity to discourage his involvement with the Fullbring users at all."

The decision was clear as far as Rukia was concerned. All they had to do was get Urahara to implement this method. Then they could make contact Ichigo, return his powers to him, and thwart whatever larger plan the Fullbringers may have.

"Let's not be hasty," Soi Fon spoke up. "Do we even know if what these people are trying to do has anything to do with Soul Society? I don't want to waste time over a boy who's already served his purpose if we don't absolutely have to."

Rukia's fingers cruled into a white-knuckled fist at her side. She'd never really interacted with the members of Squad 2. They tended to keep to themselves and tended to work from the shadows anyway. She found it hard to regret that given how their captain seemed to behave. Did she honestly have no idea just how much Ichigo had done for them? It wasn't just about Aizen or the Winter War. It was about the change he'd incited since he first came to them.

"You should try to be more careful with your words, Soi Fon-taichou," Sajin spoke. "There are many of us here who hold a great respect towards Kurosaki Ichigo, and some you care for that aren't present share the same opinion."

Soi Fon grumbled, crossing her arms and turning her face away from the commander of Squad 7. It was a point she couldn't argue with.

"Enough," Yamamoto concluded with a crack of his staff against the wooden floor. "I have made my decision regarding the matter. Regardless of your feelings for Kurosaki Ichigo, the fact remains that we are deeply in his debt. He seeks to regain what he lost in service to us, and that means the return of his powers is our responsibility. Understood?"

"Yes!" the room echoed back. Rukia couldn't keep the smile from her face.

"Very well. Ukitake-taicho, please inform us of Urahara Kisuke's plan."

* * *

"I'm gonna kill him!" Ichigo shouted, sprinting alongside Chad as they drove forward to the Urahara Shop. "Bastard thinks he can just kill my sister and get away with it? Fuck no! I'm gonna shove this thing so far up his ass it pokes out his mouth!"

"Calm down, Ichigo," Chad sighed. "The last thing your sister needs to see is you rampaging in at the first sign of her being in even a little trouble."

He scoffed back at that. If there was one thing Karin needed right now, it was a swift kick in the pants for taking this sort of risk without telling him about it. Especially after he told her how big of a commitment the things she was trying to do was. Sure, he could understand what she was thinking. He'd been her age before; he'd had the craving for power was burned inside of her like an all-consuming flame that threatened to snuff the rest of her out with its heat.

But why hadn't she just told him? He'd always, _always_ tried his hardest to keep her safe without tipping over the edge and limiting her free will, so why had she kept this from him?

The questions sat in his throat, ready to burst free at any moment. He knew there were probably weeks left until the process of Hollowfication began in her at all, but beyond his rabid, compulsive desire to help her, the fear of watching a mask leap forward and blot out her face propelled him further forward.

A flash of green light sparked for an instant below his feet, but he failed to notice it. His world was composed entirely of himself, Chad, Karin, and how quickly he could close the gap between him and the Urahara Shop.

 _"Bringer's Light,"_ Chad thought, his face blank. _"I knew that Ichigo was talented, but to have reached even this level of proficiency with his Fullbring without even realizing it…"_

In truth, the amount of control he had over the ability was negligible. True execution of Bringer's Light was melding your mind with your environment to communicate with the souls of the objects around you. Ichigo…It was more like his soul was screaming so loud that the pavement beneath him was pushing him forward just to be rid of him.

Even knowing this, Chad didn't see a reason to argue with the results Ichigo was getting.

All too quickly, the sliding doors that marked the entrance to the shop came within view. Ichigo took both legs up in the air and slammed his feet into the ground. Thin, sparking trails of neon erupted his wake as he skidded to a stop just shy of them. As pissed as he was, he wasn't going to have anyone railing on him later for destruction of public property. Especially not Urahara.

The door was thrown open with a clatter. Ichigo's eyes greedily consumed the room in an attempt to locate anyone, only stopping when they fell on Ururu and Jinta's faces.

"You two," he panted. "Where the hell is Hat'n'Clogs?"

"And why the hell do you think we'd tell _you?"_ Jinta slammed his hands against the counter at the front. "You just barge in here demanding stuff. How 'bout you _buy something_ for a change, punk!?"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed in on Jinta along with his ire. The scowl that perpetuated his features deepened as his Fullbring snapped into existence around the badge that had never found its way from his hand during his trip over.

"He's currently down in the training room with Ishida-san and your sister," Ururu piped up from the corner of the store she'd been sweeping. "Please refrain from fighting inside the store, Kurosaki-senpai."

The four limbs of his Fullbring flexed and shunted back into the badge, subsiding along with his irritation. Ichigo shot a glance over to where he knew the door to the underground bunker was hidden. It should have been his first guess.

"Thanks, Ururu," Ichigo offered, strolling over to the raised floor and passing through the second layer of sliding doors. He grabbed the hatch with the tip of his shoe, pulling the door up and open with dexterity and indignity that was wholly his own before he jumped down the trapdoor.

"Our gratitude," Chad echoed before doing the same.

Once again, the shop fell into a quiet that rung of something deeper going on underneath. Still, the only surface noise available was the gentle, rhythmic brushing of Ururu's broom against the shop floor.

"So," Jinta grumbled. "Kurosaki-senpai, huh? Didn't know you had a thing for older guys."

"I haven't the faintest what you're talking about, Jinta," Ururu returned, shutting her eyes and doing her best to look blasé about the comment. "Any further musings on the topic would be best held between you and Kurosaki Yuzu."

Jinta scoffed, flushing crimson and hiding his face behind the register with a slouch. Ururu had gotten way too good at pushing his buttons lately.

* * *

"Are you sure I'm doing this right? Doesn't feel like anything's happening," Karin huffed, letting her grip loosen on the blade until it drooped from her throat to the level of her midsection.

"I'm confident you're channeling your reiatsu into the sword correctly," Ishida replied with a quick adjustment of his glasses. "You should be able to feel it, though I wouldn't be surprised if you can't. From what I remember, your brother was never all that talented with this sort of thing, either."

Karin twitched at the insult regardless of how innocuous it was. Was he saying she was talentless?

No, she sighed, he didn't mean it like that. He was just trying to reassure her that she was following his instructions correctly. There wasn't any need to think he was being malicious. In fact, if she got frustrated with him it would probably just break her focus and make this whole reiatsu channeling thing a lot harder than it needed to be.

"Okay," she cooled. "What next, then?"

Ishida looked up, deferring to Urahara.

"I've got no experience throwing around a Zanpakuto. I'm assuming there's some sort of method to it?"

"Nope. Not a one," Urahara said with a plastered-on grin. "Just gotta wait until she figures it out for herself. Everyone gets it eventually."

"If you didn't notice, we don't have until 'eventually!'" Ishida barked, rage bubbling forth and bursting from his features. "You're asking her to do something she's obviously not prepared for with not nearly enough time to get ready to do it. If you didn't know how long it would take, you should never have cut her Chain of Fate."

Karin pushed air past her teeth. She was so tired of everyone arguing every chance they got around here. Was it so hard to just focus on the task at hand for five seconds? If Ichigo were here, he'd be the center of attention. It was becoming increasingly frustrating that everyone who was supposed to be helping her was spending too much time on _coddling her_ to take her training seriously.

Somewhere between Urahara's aloof deflections and Ishida's mounting aggravation, twin crashes came down on the floor near the entryway that had all three sets of eyes near Karin slicing through the air towards their source. As the dust cleared, two figures quickly came into view.

Ichigo didn't know what he'd expected to see when he made his way down to Urahara's training ground. He'd just activated his Fullbring a few minutes ago, and there was no guarantee that it would restore his ability to see spirits. He'd hoped that he'd be able to. Visual confirmation that Karin was okay was the best thing he could have hoped for right now. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case.

Seeing Karin's body lying a few dozen yards away from Ishida and Urahara was distressing. He didn't need to go over and check her pulse or her breathing to know she wasn't in there anymore. She was dead. That's all there was to it.

He swallowed the questions in his throat, knowing her answers – if any – would fall on deaf ears so long as he was still blind to her. There had to be a way to do that quickly. Something like a Gikongan or one of those gloves like Rukia used to have or…

Mute, Ichigo darted towards the Urahara with iron in his eyes and battle in his veins. His nameless Fullbring burst forth from the substitute badge, coaxing surprise from Ishida's throat and leaving Urahara's eyes gleaming with intrigue.

The cane came up, blocking Ichigo's strike and catching on the edge of the black reiatsu that projected from Ichigo's hand. It was just what he'd wanted. His hand shot out, clawing for the end of the cane and grasping at the aether left behind by the swift reaction of the shopkeeper.

"Kurosaki-san," Urahara feigned curiousity. "Are you sure you want my cane that badly? Without any powers of your own left, it's not like you can just slip in and out of your body without consequence anymore."

With a grunt of frustration, Ichigo reared his Fullbring overhead and swung down, provoking Urahara to bring up a hand and catch the edge of reiatsu in his free hand and clamp down. Try as he might, Ichigo could not free his weapon from the man's grasp.

"You should be more conscious of your limitations, you know," Urahara drawled. "Even if this badge of yours seems to be projecting reiatsu, it's not like it's yours to use however you like. That makes it quite the dangerous one trick pony. In other words, it's just not fit to see a real fight anytime soon."

Ichigo seethed. He knew Urahara was right; that he'd rushed here too quickly after developing his Fullbring to a point where it would be able to make up for the fact that it could cover the weakness that came with his human body.

An insignificant boy without a hint of reiatsu to speak of. Even now, that was still him.

Urahara cast his eyes sideways, lifting his sword to cast off an attack from some unseen foe; from Karin, Ichigo realized. Good. At least she was here.

Ichigo's leg came up, throwing a powerful front kick to Urahara's midsection that the shopkeeper was forced to block with his leg while fending off Karin's invisible assault and holding tight to Ichigo's Fullbring. He knew when he was in a disadvantageous position, and to compensate he released the black reiatsu from his grip before proceeding to shuffle back.

Both of the Kurosaki children were well in his line of sight, and their advance on him seemed inevitable. He'd have to work this situation just right to make the best of it, but for a master of threading the needle that was a given.

"What are you doing here, Ichi-nii?" Karin asked, pleading for some sort of a reaction from her older brother and hoping against hope that he'd somehow regained the ability to see spirits at the very least. Yes. That was an angle he could work from.

"How does it feel, you two?" Urahara asked. "Knowing that no matter what you do, you won't be able to communicate with one another must be pretty daunting. If you keep up this tag team of yours…"

And that's where the malicious lilt twisted his tone.

"One of you is bound to get hurt."

He became one with the air after that. Karin had figured he'd been holding back; that she'd been coddled by him in comparison to her brother since the moment she began this training. She hadn't expected the gap between what he'd shown her and what he was doing now to be so immense, though.

Ichigo whirled, instinct driving his defense to block an attack that cratered the ground beneath him, and Karin stood in awe of the display. Her brother's face contorted with as the reiatsu radiating from the wooden plaque in his hand wavered and threatened to give way, but even after the point her muscle and bone would have given way to the assault, he stood his ground.

"I was slightly impressed by the jump you made back there," the shopkeeper continued. "But you know, your body is nothing but a human's after all. Honestly, the more impressive feat might be how you're still on your feet after all that stress."

He vanished again, and if Karin hadn't seen him pull the same thing on Ichigo just a second prior she might not have thought to pay attention to her back. His strike came rounding horizontal at her midsection, and she barely brought her sword up in time.

She hadn't been bisected. That was the good news. Still, she _'d_ been lifted up into the air by the force of the slash and hurled at least a hundred yards into one of the several boulders that dotted the landscape. On impact, deep cracks weaved their way through the rock centered at her back. She was thankful that her body didn't seem to be breaking under the strain at least, but she was rattled. How long could she keep this up?

Ichigo's feet pummeled the ground underneath him as the gap between him and Urahara closed. The limbs of the substitute badge clawed through the air, threatening to rake against Urahara's chest. The former head of the Research and Development Corps drew back, coiling power in his heels as Benihime parried the attack out of the way and left Ichigo wide open for the return attack.

Urahara pushed off the ground, lunging into and through Ichigo, leaving a gash across his chest and dying the air crimson. Pain erupted from him in a garbled shout that left his legs weak and forced him to his knees before he collapsed. Flat on his back and heaving, Ichigo didn't look like he was getting up anytime soon.

"Ichi-nii!" Karin cried, the words ripping themselves from her throat, something broiling in her chest at the sight. She knew he couldn't see her; couldn't hear her call out to him. Was there really nothing she could do?

Chad burst into the fight then, a massive wave of white reiatsu erupting from his right arm as his Fullbring cloaked not just one arm, but both. Urahara was smart, bringing up a blood-red wall of pure energy in front of him that almost effortlessly withstood the impact.

"You've taken this too far!" the giant asserted. "Inoue left. You know Kido won't work on him. How do you expect that to heal before he bleeds out?"

"That's something he should have thought about before coming here," Urahara shrugged. "If he was serious about helping out his sister, he should have at least gotten to the point where he could see her. He might have lasted longer if he'd had enough power to do that much."

"Regardless of that…"

"Could you stop with your whining for a second, Yasutora-san?" Urahara interrupted, that speck of malice returning to his voice. "To not butt your heads into a place where you can't possibly offer any assistance. That seems to be a lesson both you and the elder Kurosaki-san seem to learn."

Urahara rushed forward, the tip of his sword meeting directly with the shielding on Chad's shoulder and driving him back. If this fight was going to happen, Urahara was going to make sure it wasn't anywhere near the other three. Whether that was to keep Ichigo out of danger or to isolate Chad was up for debate.

"Pick up, Inoue-san," Ishida breathed into the phone he'd drawn out from his pocket. If Chad was fighting, Ichigo was down, and Karin was as panicked as she was, someone needed to stay cool under the pressure and get things done.

Karin, to her merit, had not completely frozen in her fear. The instinct to help Ichigo however she might be able welled within her and drove her to his side. The cut was smaller than she'd feared, but not nearly as shallow as she'd hoped. Blood pooled around his chest in volumes his shirt couldn't hold back the way it was now, but Karin had grown resourceful during her life in the clinic.

The sword in her hand was sharp enough to cut the seam on one side of her brother's shirt, and she quickly got to work rolling and folding it into something she could tie tightly against the wound. The unintended side-effect of this, though, was how aware of her presence it made her brother.

"Sorry, Karin," he groaned, arching his back and riding out the resulting pain to give her an easier time of adjusting the shirt beneath him and pulling free of the only sleeve he still and an arm through.

"Be quiet. I'm not talking to you right now!" she responded, pretending for a second that he could hear her. "You're such an idiot."

Her hands frantically began tying the two halves of what used to be his right sleeve as tightly against his side as she could. The thickest part of the ruined shirt – the one with the left sleeve tucked and wrapped around it – overlapped as closely with the wound as she could make it.

"Thought you might have needed my help. Some good that did," Ichigo murmured, shutting his eyes and letting out a sight. "Figures I'd only be in the way."

She pressed against the wound over the cloth. Hard. He grunted long and low, his head coming up as all the muscles in his body tensed in response to the agony. Sure, she could have applied the extra compression a little more gently, but as far as Karin was concerned he'd earned this treatment.

She hadn't expected his hand to come up and his dull, sightless eyes to somehow find hers as his grip came to her wrist.

"Hey. Remember what I told you? When I was talking about waking up Zangetsu?"

She did. Vaguely. It had been something about looking forward. When he'd told her the story, it had taken well over an hour and spanned from the start of his training with Urahara to his rescue of Rukia. The end stood out so much more prominently in her mind for that reason. The middle had just sort of faded away.

She didn't speak. It wouldn't have done any good. Instead, her free hand came up and wrapped around his wrist in acknowledgement.

"There's only one of him and one of you. There isn't any reason to be afraid," Ichigo elaborated through ragged breath. "Look forward. Go forward and don't stop. If you run, you'll wither away. If you hesitate, you'll die."

He coughed, blood splattering across his lips as he did. Had Urahara nicked a lung?

"Cast off your fear, Karin."

The words rocked her core. Waiting around with Ishida. Running and hiding behind Ichigo's friends so that she didn't have to bite the bullet. It was a waste of time. She'd spent so much time split between angry and afraid – afraid of her Chain of Fate decaying and turning her into a Hollow, afraid of Urahara and his strength, afraid of how Ichigo would react to all of this – that she'd lost sight of her goal.

She'd forgotten why she was training in the first place. She was in this to save Ichigo, not herself.

"Thanks, Ichi-nii," she whispered, watching his eyes grow dim and roll into the back of his head. Between the exertion of using his Fullbring, the injuries, and the blood loss, fatigue had finally gotten the better of him.

She wanted to stand and fight, but that desire was overridden by the concern she had for his safety. She'd stay here until she knew he'd be okay. And then…

And then Urahara.

"Inoue-san, finally!" Ishida spouted, breaking Karin from her reverie. "It's Kurosaki. He showed up out of nowhere and lashed out at Urahara. He's hurt. We need you back here. _Now_."

"What? Does he know about Karin-chan?" she asked, the volume of her panic easily audible through Ishida's cell. "No, that's not important. I'm sorry, I…I just got held up with an old friend, I think. I'll be over as soon as I can."

"He's lost a lot of blood. Please, hurry."

"Right!"

Ishida seemed to be breathing easy, but there was one thing that stood out in Karin's mind.

 _She thinks?_

* * *

"I'm real sorry, Tsukishima, san," Shishigawara groveled. "Y'told me that you needed me to kill that girl, and then you wound up having to hit her for me. I'm ashamed of myself, yo."

The lanky man in the collared white shirt shook his head with a sigh. Perhaps he'd taken things a step too far when he'd used his Fullbring on this one? He'd meant to instill a sense of loyalty, not fealty. This whole thing had left a sour taste in his mouth. Oh well. It was something to revise later on.

"Think nothing of it, Shishigawara. I'm the one who stepped in. I'm sure if I'd let you handle things yourself, you would have followed through with my request."

He wouldn't say it, but that's why he'd gotten in the way. It hadn't been according to the plan, but that Orihime girl could have proven to be a far more valuable asset than they'd first imagined. It was just a matter of taking care to develop her character in the proper way. After that, she may prove even more useful to their cause than Kurosaki Ichigo himself.

"Well. Aight. If you say so. Still, I can't help but feel bad for hesitatin' like that. If I'd just..."

"Shishigawara."

The fauxhawk-sporting boy's words caught in his throat at Tsukishima's warning tone. Truthfully, respect born from fear was a powerful think indeed. It did amazing things like allow the two of them to walk through the streets of Karakura amicably and speak of the next steps.

"I think it's about time we paid Ginjo and the others a visit. What do you think, Shishigawara?" Tsukishima drawled.

"W-whatever you think is best, Tsukishima-san."

Yes. A very powerful thing indeed.

* * *

 _Wow. I'm actually on track. This got done and proofread before the deadline._

 _Scary stuff, man._

 _Hope you've enjoyed reading up to this point._


End file.
